Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for closer ties with the United Nations (UN) when meeting with the UN chief in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Premier Li was on a six-day trip to Cambodia for a series of leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation and an official visit to the country. 

During Li's meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday, Li discussed various issues, including multilateralism and climate change. He said the UN is the principal institution for upholding multilateralism, and China attaches high importance to the UN's important role in safeguarding world peace and promoting common development.

Against the backdrop of the current complex and fluid international situation, upholding multilateralism basically means safeguarding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and backing the UN's authority in handling international affairs, Li noted.

Supporting the UN makes a contribution to world peace and development, the Chinese premier said, adding that China commends UN's new accomplishments made under Guterres' leadership.

He pledged that China will, as always, strengthen cooperation with UN agencies, actively support and participate in all lines of efforts of the UN, and jointly safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the norms in international law and international fairness and justice with all sides.

Poverty inevitably undermines stability, and it is difficult to avoid conflict and unrest without narrowing the gap between the North and the South, Li said.

China commends the UN for prioritizing the development issues facing developing countries and actively helping them ease debt burden, tackle the climate change, improve living standards, and pursue sustainable development, Li said.

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the largest developing country, China is ready to maintain close communication and coordination with the UN, do its best to help developing countries on climate change under the South-South cooperation framework, and play its constructive role on African countries' debt service suspension under the Group of 20, he said.

For his part, Guterres said cooperation between China and the UN is an important pillar of multilateralism. The UN appreciates China's tremendous efforts in promoting multilateralism and speaks highly of China's contribution to advancing the UN's agendas on addressing climate change and achieving sustainable development.

The UN hopes to deepen cooperation with China to help developing countries cope with climate change, alleviate the debt burden and safeguard international food and energy security so that the various agendas put forward by the UN win the support of more and more countries, he said.

The UN opposes economic decoupling and believes that all countries bridge their differences through dialogue and jointly deal with global challenges. The UN firmly supports China's important role in South-South cooperation and anticipates closer cooperation with China in this regard, the UN chief added.

On the sidelines of the leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation, Premier Li also met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Saturday.

Albanese said that next month, Australia and China will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, which were forged under a Labor administration led by then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

Noting that he has visited China several times, Albanese said his country is willing to strengthen high-level exchanges with China and jointly promote the healthy development of bilateral relations.

Li said that Chinese and Australian peoples enjoy traditional friendship, however, bilateral relations have gone through a difficult patch.

"Taking office as the prime minister of the new Labor government, you expressed Australia's readiness to work with China to bring the bilateral relationship back on track," Li said.

China is ready to meet Australia half way and work with it to seize the opportunity of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations to promote sustained, sound and steady growth of China-Australia relations, Li said.

(With input from Xinhua)