CARACAS, July 21 -- The development of the China-Venezuela ties was given a fresh shot of vitality as the two countries forged an even stronger partnership during Chinese President Xi Jinping's just-concluded visit to the Latin American nation.

China and Venezuela formed diplomatic ties in 1974, and the newly-formed comprehensive strategic partnership is an upgrade of the strategic partnership for common development established in 2001.

During their meeting in Caracas, Xi and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro lauded the rapid development of bilateral ties over the past decades, particularly hailing the contribution made by late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in promoting the relationship between the two countries.

Xi and Maduro agreed that China and Venezuela, both developing countries and each other's important strategic cooperative partner, share the common desire of promoting inclusive and sustainable development and improving people's livelihood, and the new partnership is created against the need of better reflecting the level of bilateral relations and charting out the direction for future cooperation.

In a joint declaration issued Monday, the two sides pledge to enhance political dialogues and high level exchanges.

Leaders of the two countries reiterate the importance of observing the basic principles of international law, and opposing any country or organization's unilateral act in an attempt to undermine the independence or political and social stability of the two countries.

They also uphold peaceful means in settling disputes as the guiding principle of handling state-to-state relations.

As Venezuela reaffirms its firm adherence to the one-China policy and support to the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations as well as China's peaceful reunification, China shows understanding and respect toward Venezuela's adoption of its foreign policy of independence and self-reliance by inheriting the unfulfilled wish of late liberator Simon Bolivar.

Both sides believe that promoting comprehensive, pragmatic cooperation is a key component in developing bilateral ties, and are ready to strengthen scientific planning, make concerted effort and work step by step, and complement each other's advantages in advancing cooperation.

According to the declaration, the two sides vow to continue promoting the stable and balanced development of two-way trade, deepening cooperation in such fields as finance, investment, energy, mining, agriculture, infrastructure construction, telecommunication, manufacturing and hi-tech, and encouraging technology transfer and knowledge sharing.

China and Venezuela are committed to increasing exchanges in education, culture, tourism and health areas as well, and promoting and facilitating exchanges of personnel to create better conditions for the expansion of China-Venezuela cooperation in various areas.

The two countries' leaders also express willingness to strengthen cooperation within multilateral frameworks, and maintain close strategic coordination and cooperation on major international and regional issues.

During Xi's visit, the two sides signed 16 agreements covering such areas as energy and mining, finance, infrastructure construction, agriculture and hi-tech.

When attending the closing ceremony of the 13th meeting of the China-Venezuela High-Level Joint Commission in Caracas, Xi also welcomed Venezuela to share the opportunities brought by China's development.

Over the past ten years, relevant departments of the two governments conducted top-level design and coordination, Xi said, adding practical cooperation has become a pillar and highlight of China-Venezuela ties.

For his part, Maduro said cooperation between Venezuela and China is based on brotherly friendship, mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual benefit, which has promoted economic and social development of the South American country.

He said Venezuela hopes to learn from China's development experiences and that it welcomes Chinese investment.

Venezuela is the third leg of Xi's ongoing four-nation Latin America tour, which also includes Brazil, Argentina and Cuba.