Chinese premier meets Georgian PM

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, July 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

DALIAN, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Premier Li Keqiang on Monday met with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze in northeast China's coastal city of Dalian.

China-Georgia relations enjoy sound and steady development on the basis of mutual respect and equality, Premier Li said.

Noting that Georgia was the first Eurasian country to sign a free trade agreement with China, Li said China stands ready to align the two countries' development strategies and carry out cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

China is willing to expand two-way investment on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, facilitate interconnectivity and infrastructure in line with the principles of openness, transparency and fair competition, and deepen people-to-people exchanges, Li added.

Bakhtadze congratulated the People's Republic of China on its 70th anniversary of the founding.

Hailing the close high-level exchanges and solid political mutual trust between the two sides, Bakhtadze said Georgia actively supports the joint construction of the Belt and Road, welcomes Chinese enterprises to expand investment in Georgia, and stands ready to expand bilateral trade and strengthen cooperation with China in various fields.