China, Latvia pledge to advance cooperation

BUDAPEST - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis on Monday agreed to jointly strengthen cooperation in a wide range of areas.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis in Budapest Monday.[Photo/Xinhua]

The two leaders made the pledge during their meeting on the sidelines of an ongoing annual gathering of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) scheduled for Nov. 26-29 in Budapest.

China is willing to further align the Belt and Road Initiative with Latvia's development strategy, and help Latvia build up its infrastructure, including its ports, so as to revitalize the maritime passage and boost cooperation between China and the Baltic states, as well as the northern European countries, Li said.

Noting that China-Latvia people-to-people exchanges enjoy good foundation and positive results, Li said he hopes that the two sides can continue to facilitate personnel exchanges and enhance cooperation in the fields of education, scientific research and sinology.

For his part, Kucinskis said the two countries have made progress in logistics and transport cooperation, and have actively conducted third-party cooperation, adding that there are many more ambitious projects for the two sides to cooperate on in the future.

Kucinskis said his country will take the advantage of its geographic locations and conduct logistics and freight cooperation with China with an aim to become an important regional gateway for China's exports of goods.

Latvia is also willing to work with China to conduct third-party cooperation and promote their cooperation in such areas as education and scientific research, the Latvian prime minister said.