Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Sooronbay Jeenbekov, met Wednesday evening in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, pledging joint efforts to promote bilateral ties.

Xi and Jeenbekov had a meeting at the presidential residence right after the Chinese president arrived in the Central Asian country for a state visit and the 19th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

Noting that it is his second visit to Kyrgyzstan in six years, Xi expressed the delight of visiting an old friend.

Xi expressed appreciation for Jeenbekov's public remarks on safeguarding the China-Kyrgyzstan friendship on many occasions.

China is ready to share experience in state governance with Kyrgyzstan to achieve common development and prosperity, Xi said, hailing the solid outcomes in the joint construction of the Belt and Road.

The two sides, he said, should step up coordination within multilateral frameworks, including the SCO and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, stick to multilateralism, and oppose protectionism and unilateralism, so as to contribute to building a community with a shared future for humanity.

Recalling his attendance last week at a release ceremony for the Kyrgyz edition of the first volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China," Jeenbekov said the book is of great significance for Kyrgyzstan to learn from China's experience and promote its own reform and development.

Jeenbekov stressed that Kyrgyzstan firmly supports the measures taken by the Chinese government in safeguarding peace and stability in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and cracking down on extremism. He also thanked China for its strong support and assistance to Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan, he said, values China's influence in international affairs and is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in various sectors within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, get on board the express train of China's economic development, and accelerate leapfrog development of bilateral relations.

(Cover: Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) meets with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, June 12, 2019. /Xinhua Photo)