Chinese Premier Li Qiang is greeted by Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko upon his arrival at the airport in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 22, 2024. Li Qiang arrived here Thursday for an official visit to Belarus at the invitation of Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived in Minsk on Thursday for an official visit to Belarus at the invitation of Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko.

Li's visit followed his co-chairing the 29th regular meeting between the Chinese and Russian heads of government in Moscow and visit to Russia.

Highlighting the long-standing friendship between China and Belarus, Li noted upon his arrival that bilateral relations have rapidly advanced since the establishment of diplomatic ties 32 years ago.

In recent years, under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the bilateral relationship has been continuously upgraded to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership, with political mutual trust continuing to strengthen, high-quality Belt and Road cooperation being solidly advanced, people-to-people and cultural exchanges becoming increasingly close, and international collaboration achieving fruitful results, Li said.

He added that the meeting between the two heads of state this July provided strategic direction and new arrangements for the future of China-Belarus relations.

China, Li said, is ready to work closely with Belarus to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, further enhance the alignment of development strategies, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, share development opportunities, and achieve more practical results, so as to continuously enhance the well-being of the two peoples and make more contribution to regional and global peace, stability, development and prosperity.