Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for intensified efforts to align the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with Indonesia's Global Maritime Axis vision in a phone conversation with Indonesian President Joko Widodo. 

Widodo said Indonesia hopes to work with China to jointly build the Belt and Road. 

Proposed by Xi in 2013, the BRI comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. 

The Global Maritime Axis vision put forward by Widodo emphasizes the sea as the future of Indonesia.

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Xi called on Indonesia to seize opportunities brought by China's efforts to foster a new development paradigm of "dual circulation," which allows the domestic and overseas markets to reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay. 

He expressed the hope that the two countries will promote practical cooperation in various fields and upgrade the quality and scale of their cooperation. 

The two sides should continue to press forward key projects, such as the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway and the regional comprehensive economic corridor, he said. 

With a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the high-speed railway built with Chinese technology will cut the journey between Jakarta and Bandung, the capital of West Java Province, from more than three hours to around 40 minutes. 

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Xi said China and Indonesia should also tap the potential in new energy and maritime cooperation and strengthen cooperation in the digital economy and other areas. 

China welcomes Indonesia to export more quality products to China and supports Chinese companies to increase investment in Indonesia, he told Widodo. 

The two countries should intensify efforts for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to take effect and get implemented and promote trade liberalization and economic integration in the region, Xi said.

Commenting on the fight against COVID-19, Xi said China, while comprehensively promoting domestic vaccination, continues to carry out vaccine cooperation with Indonesia, help Indonesia build a regional vaccine production center and jointly resist the "vaccine divide." 

China has started vaccination for foreign nationals in the country, including Indonesian citizens, he said, calling on Indonesia to provide active support to Chinese citizens in the Southeast Asian country. 

Xi said China is willing to strengthen strategic mutual trust and strategic coordination with Indonesia and jointly uphold multilateralism and safeguard the common interests of developing countries. 

Widodo congratulated the Communist Party of China (CPC) for its centenary this year, hailing China's success under the CPC's leadership, particularly the country's remarkable achievements in poverty alleviation and economic development. 

Describing China as a "good friend and brother" of Indonesia, Widodo said his country hopes to learn China's experience, enhance economic and trade relations between the two sides, facilitate the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway project and deepen people-to-people exchanges. 

He thanked China for its support in fighting COVID-19, adding that Indonesia hopes to strengthen cooperation with China on vaccine production. 

Widodo received two injections of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech in January.