RHODES, Greece -- China stands ready to strengthen the bond of cooperation with Greece, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said here on Friday.

During his meeting here with Greek Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis, Li also said China is willing to work with Greece to leverage complementary advantages, advance the implementation of the plan for the Port of Piraeus in a high-quality manner, and promote more optimized and balanced development of the bilateral trade.

During the meeting, he noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his visit to China in November 2023 and reached important consensus on deepening bilateral relations.

Over the past two years, Li said, China and Greece have actively implemented the outcomes of the visit and promoted high-quality development of the Belt and Road cooperation, delivering more benefits to the peoples of both countries.

Noting that next year marks the 20th anniversary of the China-Greece comprehensive strategic partnership, Li said China is willing to work with Greece to continue firmly supporting each other's core interests and major concerns, expand practical cooperation in various fields and achieve more concrete results.

China is also ready to work with Greece to enhance cooperation in such fields as clean energy, power transmission and transformation, and artificial intelligence (AI), and foster new drivers for economic growth, said Li, adding that China supports and encourages more capable Chinese enterprises to actively invest in Greece in accordance with market principles.

The Chinese premier also encouraged both sides to promote mutual learning between civilizations, facilitate tourism and other people-to-people exchanges, and enhance the friendship between the two peoples.

Noting that China and the European Union (EU) share extensive common interests, Li said that as unilateralism and protectionism are rising globally, China and the EU should jointly send a positive message of supporting multilateralism and free trade, and work together to safeguard economic globalization and international economic and trade order.

It is hoped that Greece will continue to play a constructive role in promoting the development of China-EU relations, he said.

For his part, Hatzidakis said that Greece and China are both ancient civilizations, and Greece attaches great importance to developing its relations with China.

Noting that Greece is willing to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, he said that Greece stands ready to further enhance high-level exchanges with China, deepen practical cooperation in such areas as trade, investment, shipping, energy and tourism, promote people-to-people exchanges, strengthen dialogue between civilizations, so as to advance the development of Greece-China comprehensive strategic partnership.

China is a major country with significant international influence, he said, adding that Greece is ready to strengthen multilateral coordination with China, jointly uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and address global challenges such as climate change.

Greece is also willing to contribute to the development of EU-China relations, he added.

The Chinese premier left Beijing on the same day for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to attend the 17th BRICS Summit upon invitation, making a stopover on the island of Rhodes, Greece.