BEIJING, April 17 -- Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao met on Thursday with Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti Minister of Amiri Diwan, on boosting economic ties.

During their meeting in the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing, Li said China and Kuwait are good friends with mutual trust and sincere cooperation.

China attaches great importance to friendly exchanges with the Kuwaiti royal family and the government, said Li.

China is willing to enhance substantial cooperation in constructing the Silk Road economic belt and the 21st-century maritime Silk Road so as to realize common development and lift China's relationships with Kuwait and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council to a new level, he added.

Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad, also a member of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, said Kuwaiti plans such as the City of Silk fall within China's designs for the Silk Road economic belt and the 21st-century maritime Silk Road.

He expressed hope to push forward strategic and direct cooperation between the two sides so as to promote bilateral development.