China and Colombia on Wednesday elevated their relations to a strategic partnership, as Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Colombian President Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing.

The establishment of the strategic partnership is the outcome of long-term efforts by the two sides, and a reflection of mutual trust and cooperation between the two sides, Xi said.

"It needs to be cherished all the more, and continuously enriched and developed by both sides," he said.

China is willing to work with Colombia to promote the China-Colombia strategic partnership to better benefit the two peoples and inject positive energy into world peace and development, said Xi.

He stressed that China supports Colombia in independently exploring a development path suiting its own national conditions, backs its peace process, and hopes that it will achieve comprehensive, lasting and sustainable peace at an early date.

Xi expressed the belief that China's high-quality development and modernization process will bring new opportunities to all countries in the world, Colombia included.

"China-Colombia relationship is based on equality, mutual benefit and win-win results," he said.

Colombia is welcomed to join the big Belt and Road family at an early date for common development and prosperity, said Xi.

The two sides should make most of the China-Colombia Mixed Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation, optimize the bilateral trade structure, and strengthen cooperation in information and communications, digital economy and other fields, he added.

Noting that China and Colombia are developing countries, Xi said the two sides should strengthen communication and coordination in international affairs, safeguard the common interests of developing countries, and preserve international fairness and justice.

He said that China attaches great importance to the development of China-Latin America relations and is willing to continue to support the integration process of Latin America and the Caribbean.

For his part, Petro said Colombia is ready to align its advantages in geographic location and development strategies with the Belt and Road Initiative, and strengthen bilateral cooperation in infrastructure, clean energy and other fields.

The Latin American country welcomes Chinese investment to promote a more balanced development of bilateral trade, he said, adding that will help Colombia advance its peace process, achieve peace, stability and job growth that the people desire, and enhance interconnectivity of the region and the world.

Colombia is willing to maintain communication with China on the tensions between Palestine and Israel and other issues so as to help find a solution to end the hostilities and de-escalate the situation as soon as possible, said Petro.

The Colombian side welcomes the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by the Chinese president, and is ready to strengthen communication and cooperation with China within multilateral mechanisms, he added.

The two heads of state also witnessed the signing of a number of documents on bilateral cooperation on industrial investment, trade, digital economy, green development, agriculture, science and technology, education, culture, quarantine and other fields after the talks.

The two sides also issued a joint statement on the establishment of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Before the talks, Xi held a welcoming ceremony for Petro.