Belgian deputy PM to visit China: spokesman

Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prevot will visit China from April 27 to May 1, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian announced on Monday.

Prevot will make the trip at the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, the spokesman said at a regular briefing in Beijing.

"China and Belgium are all-round friendly cooperation partners. In recent years, the two sides have had frequent high-level exchanges. Cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, shipping and logistics, and biomedicine has been steadily advancing, achieving remarkable results and bringing tangible benefits to the people of both countries," said Lin.

"This year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China-Belgium diplomatic ties. This is Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prevot's first visit to China since he took office. China hopes to take this visit as an opportunity to have an in-depth exchange of views with Belgium on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of common concern, expand common understandings, deepen cooperation, and promote the sustained, sound and steady development of China-Belgium relations, making new contributions to the development of China-EU relations," he said.

Li Xi, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), met with a delegation led by Dmitry Krutoi, head of the Administration of the President of Belarus, in Beijing on Monday.

Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said China is ready to work with Belarus to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and continue to firmly support each other on issues regarding each other's core interests and major concerns.

China is willing to enhance the alignment of development strategies and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, strengthen multilateral collaboration and promote the bilateral ties with Belarus, Li said.

Krutoi said Belarus is firmly committed to developing the all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership with China, and stands ready to learn from China's experience in state governance and party building to push the bilateral ties to a higher level.