China to further strengthen cooperation with Spain: Premier

PALMA - China will continue to deepen mutual political trust, promote balanced growth of bilateral trade, expand two-way investment deepen exchanges on education, culture, tourism and other exchanges with Spain in the new decade of their comprehensive strategic partnership, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said here Wednesday.

Li made the remarks while meeting with Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria during his stopover in the European country, after concluding a four-nation tour to Latin America, including Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile.

Li made positive comments on the development of bilateral relations in recent years, saying that China attaches great importance to its relations with Spain and he hoped the Spanish government would provide more convenience for Chinese companies and citizens in the Iberian country.

Li briefed his visit to four Latin American countries to Saenz de Santamaria, noting that China and Spain share complementary advantages and have great potential in jointly developing third-party market, which will not only boost their economic growth and create more jobs, but also help the developing countries upgrade the level of infrastructure construction and jointly promote the sustainable development of world economy.

China and Spain could analyze the possibility of strengthening mutual investment and joint developing third-party market through their bilateral mixed committee on trade and economic cooperation, to reach a framework agreement and provide guidance for the two countries to conduct a third-party win-win cooperation in economy, culture and other fields.

Saenz de Santamaria said Spain and China enjoyed smooth exchanges and cooperation in various fields, stressing that Spain will not forget China's valuable support and assistance during the most difficult time for Spanish economy, and is willing to further expand cooperation in the fields of infrastructure construction, energy and chemicals.

The Spanish government agreed with China' s proposal to jointly develop third-party market, promote trade balance growth and expand personnel exchanges, she said, pledging that Spain will closely cooperate with China to create favorable conditions to further promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

The two sides agreed to strengthen communication and coordination within the UN framework, and jointly promote the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Li arrived here Wednesday for a technical stop after concluding his four-nation tour to Latin America, including Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile.