AMSTERDAM - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Amsterdam Saturday for a state visit to the Netherlands and a global nuclear summit.

The Netherlands is the first leg of Xi's European tour, which will also take him to France, Germany and Belgium. He will attend the third Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in The Hague from March 24 to 25.

Xi is the first Chinese president to visit the Netherlands since the two states established diplomatic relations in 1972. He will meet King Willem-Alexander and parliamentary leaders, and hold talks with Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The two sides will sign cooperation agreements on agriculture, energy, finance and culture.

Latest statistics show that bilateral trade between China and the Netherlands reached a new high of $70.15 billion in 2013, while year-on-year growth hit 3.8 percent.

For 11 consecutive years, the Netherlands has been China's second biggest trading partner in the EU. China has been the second biggest trading partner to the Netherlands for four consecutive years.

Noting the strong bilateral trade ties, Rutte said in an interview with Xinhua prior to Xi's visit that the two countries "can learn a lot from each other".

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