Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived in Minsk Thursday for an official visit to Belarus at the invitation of Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko.

Highlighting the long-standing friendship between China and Belarus, Li noted upon his arrival that bilateral relations have rapidly advanced since the establishment of diplomatic ties 32 years ago.

In recent years, under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the bilateral relationship has been continuously upgraded to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership, with political mutual trust continuing to strengthen, high-quality Belt and Road cooperation being solidly advanced, people-to-people and cultural exchanges becoming increasingly close, and international collaboration achieving fruitful results, Li said.

He added that the meeting between the two heads of state this July provided strategic direction and new arrangements for the future of China-Belarus relations.

China, Li said, is ready to work closely with Belarus to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, further enhance the alignment of development strategies, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, share development opportunities, and achieve more practical results in order to continuously enhance the well-being of the two peoples and make more contribution to regional and global peace, stability, development and prosperity.

Li's visit to Belarus followed his co-chairing of the 29th regular meeting between the Chinese and Russian heads of government in Moscow and his visit to Russia.

(With input from Xinhua)