President Xi meets Dutch PM, pledging further ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Beijing on Nov 15, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping met here Friday with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, pledging to further bilateral relations.

Xi hailed the Netherlands' willingness to enhance cooperation with China. He said, "China will work with the Netherlands with mutual respect and trust, carry out reciprocal cooperation and build a much more mature and stable bilateral relationship which is conducive to common development."

The Netherlands has become China's second largest trade partner in the European Union and two-way investments are at a high level, Xi told Rutte, who is on a two-day visit to China.

China's aim for new industrialization, information technology deployment, urbanization and agricultural modernization offered more opportunities for cooperation with the Netherlands, Xi said.

The president called on the two states to expand cooperation besides the existing fields of ports and the petrochemical industry, strengthen people-to-people contact and push forward China-EU relations.

China supports the Netherlands to host the third nuclear security summit next year and will contribute to its success, Xi noted.