SHANGHAI -- President Xi Jinping on Monday met with Czech President Milos Zeman, who attended the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

Xi pointed out that China and the Czech Republic have enjoyed long-time friendship and their bilateral relationship has been buttressed by deep public support and wide-ranging mutual interest.

Xi said following his 2016 state visit to the central European country and the signing of the strategic partnership between the two countries, their bilateral relationship opened a new chapter.

Propelled by the Belt and Road Initiative and the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC), the China-Czech relationship has shown momentum of across-the-board development and bright prospects, Xi added.

Xi emphasized that the two countries should deepen mutual trust so as to cement and safeguard the political basis of their relationship.

The Chinese president also called on the two countries to create more bright spots and mega projects in their cooperation on the Belt and Road construction, widen cooperation in areas such as transportation, energy, e-commerce and artificial intelligence (AI), and carry out more people-to-people exchange.

Xi said China looks forward to Czech Republic's continuing contribution to the development of China-Europe relationship and is willing to enhance cooperation with the Czech Republic under the framework of China-CEEC cooperation and jointly safeguard and build an open world economy.

Zeman said the Czech Republic welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest and start new businesses and is willing to further enhance dialogue and coordination between the two governments and actively take part in the Belt and Road construction.

Zeman also expressed his firm opposition to unilateralism and protectionism.