Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called on China and Italy to carry forward the Silk Road spirit during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Beijing.

"The Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit is a shared treasure of China and Italy," Xi said.

China and Italy should uphold and promote the Silk Road spirit, view and develop bilateral relations from a historical dimension, strategic height and long-term perspective, and push their relations to go steady and far, he told Meloni, who is on an official visit to China, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

Noting that China and Italy are at the two ends of the ancient Silk Road, Xi said the time-honored friendly exchanges between the two countries have made significant contributions to overall exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations and to the progress of humanity.

Amid accelerating global changes unseen in a century, countries will either progress together through connectivity and unity or retreat separately through closure and division, he said.

For her part, Meloni said Italy is willing to carry forward the Silk Road spirit, develop a closer and higher-level partnership with China to open up a new chapter in the Italy-China comprehensive strategic partnership and make new contributions to world peace and progress.

She said the current international situation has been evolving profoundly, and China, as a major power, has an irreplaceable role in addressing global challenges.

Italy attaches great importance to China's international status and role, she added.

Both sides pledge cooperation

During Monday's meeting, Xi said China and Italy have complementary industrial advantages and present opportunities to each other, and both sides should remain open to each other and improve cooperation.

China is ready to work with Italy to upgrade traditional cooperation in trade, investment, industrial manufacturing, science and technology innovation and third-party markets, and to explore cooperation in emerging fields such as electric vehicles (EVs) and artificial intelligence (AI), he said.

In the era of economic globalization, the only way to bring about win-win development is to adhere to the openness and cooperation of the global industrial and supply chains, Xi said.

China follows a path of peaceful development, he said. It never pursues hegemony, and is willing to share development opportunities with all countries, he added.

Xi expressed hope that Italy will understand and support China's development philosophy, and play a constructive role in advancing dialogue and cooperation between China and the European Union and promoting the positive and stable development of China-EU relations.

During the meeting, Meloni said Italy is committed to the one-China policy.

She said Italy hopes to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with China, tap more potential, deepen bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, investment, EVs, AI and other issues, have closer people-to-people exchanges, and promote the entry of more Italian products into the Chinese market.

Italy opposes "de-coupling" in global supply chains and protectionism, and is willing to play an active role in promoting deeper and more practical relations between the EU and China, said Meloni.

China and Italy on Monday also issued a joint action plan to deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership between 2024 and 2027.

 (With input from Xinhua)