Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 8, 2023. Aripov attended the closing ceremony of the 19th Asian Games on Sunday. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday met with Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, who attended the closing ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

Noting China and Uzbekistan are close neighbors that share weal and woe, Li said China is willing to work with Uzbekistan to constantly transform the important consensus reached by the two heads of state into actions and concrete outcomes to enrich the China-Uzbekistan comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era.

Li said China would, as always, staunchly support Uzbekistan in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and in following a development path suited to its national realities.

China is ready to work with the Uzbek side to take the Belt and Road Initiative as the main line in cooperation, advance synergy of development strategies, expand economic and trade cooperation, improve interconnectivity, enhance energy cooperation, and deepen cooperation in various fields between the two countries, Li said.

China encourages its enterprises to invest in Uzbekistan and start and develop business in the country and supports Uzbekistan in fostering an innovation-oriented economic zone, said Li, urging the two sides to strengthen cooperation in education, culture, tourism, sports, healthcare, and other areas of people-to-people exchanges.

China is ready to work with Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan, to promote cooperation in key areas including investment, trade and interconnectivity to forge an even closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future, Li added.

While congratulating China on the success of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Aripov said Uzbekistan highly values its comprehensive strategic partnership with China.

The Uzbek side is willing to learn from China's experience in deepening reform, expanding opening-up and comprehensively advancing Chinese modernization and deepen cooperation with China in various fields based on equality, amity, and mutual benefit with win-win results, Aripov added.