Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium Alexander De Croo in Beijing on Friday, Paralel.Az reports citing Xinhua.

Noting that China attaches great importance to the development of China-Belgium relations, Xi said bilateral cooperation has yielded fruitful results and benefited the two peoples since the establishment of diplomatic ties 53 years ago.

"China and Belgium are both beneficiaries of economic globalization and share common interests in resisting protectionism and safeguarding free trade," Xi said.

Chinese President stated that the two sides can combine their respective strengths to expand cooperation in traditional areas such as transportation, logistics and biopharmaceuticals, and explore new growth areas for cooperation such as green development and digital economy.

China is willing to strengthen communication with Belgium within multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations and carry out cooperation on issues such as climate change and biodiversity protection, Xi Jinping noted.

Stressing that China maintains long-term consistency in its policy toward Europe, Xi said China has always regarded Europe as a partner and hopes that Europe will play a positive and constructive role as an important force in a multipolar world.

In the face of the changing and volatile international situation, China and Europe need to build more "bridges," he added.

Xi said the two sides should work more closely to promote an equal and orderly global multipolarity and an economic globalization that benefits all, and jointly promote world peace, stability and prosperity.

China is willing to work with the European Union (EU) to foster progress in China-EU relations in the new year and hopes that Belgium, as the EU rotating presidency, will play a positive role in this regard, Xi added.