BEIJING, Feb. 13 -- The bilateral partnership between Mexico and China is at its best moment in history, Mexican Ambassador to China Julian Ventura said on Thursday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto met three times within a short period of time last year, and the two countries made rapid progress in boosting cooperation in various fields, the ambassador said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

China and Mexico established diplomatic relations on Feb. 14, 1972, and have forged a new all-round strategic partnership after increasingly deepening exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in the past 42 years.

"People of the two countries have always been eager to know each other and bilateral dialogues and cooperation have never ceased," he said.

The ambassador said his close ties with China started in his college days when he took Chinese as an elective course and his Chinese name "Wen Li'an" was given to him by his teacher at the time.

"My family and I love life in Beijing. Just like the capital city of Mexico, Beijing is a vibrant modern city with a long history," said Ventura, who took office as ambassador in June 2013.

"I hope people in the two countries will know better about each other and have more political, cultural, academic exchanges," he said.

He said that with long histories and profound cultural traditions, both the Mexican and Chinese people had similar life philosophies, valuing family harmony and friendship.

China and Mexico, once strange countries separated by the Pacific Ocean, have gradually known each other better and built mutual trust in the past four decades.

As China did from the adoption of reform and opening up policy in 1978, Mexico has also advanced its reform with Mexican characteristics since the beginning of 1980s, Ventura said.

"It's the common goals of economic development and social justice as well as eliminating poverty that have made the two countries come together," he said.

Mutually beneficial cooperation between the two has been deepened, cultural exchanges expanded and coordination on regional and global affairs strengthened, the ambassador noted.

China now is Mexico's second-largest trading partner, while the latter is China's second-largest in Latin America. Two-way trade jumped from about 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2003 to more than 36 billion in 2012.

As China has been growing into a domestic demand-oriented economy and the huge potential market in China will offer good opportunities to Mexico's competitive sectors, including agriculture, energy and food, said the ambassador.

China and Mexico have great cooperation potential in industries of automobiles and manufacturing, he said, adding that domestic enterprises in both countries could use their respective advantages to pursue win-win cooperation.

Chinese investors will have huge opportunities in Mexico as the Mexican government has adopted ambitious measures to promote infrastructure construction to drive the country's overall economic development, he said.

Compared with the ever-growing bilateral trade volume, exchanges in culture, art and education will resonate in the hearts of the people and make them feel more closer, said the ambassador.