The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the "biggest opportunity" for the development of relations between China and Singapore, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday, calling on the two sides to promote high-quality cooperation under the initiative.

President Xi made the remarks when meeting with Singaporean President Halimah Yacob, who is in Beijing to attend the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations.

China and Singapore are "development opportunities" for each other, and their cooperation under the BRI is a process featured by inclusiveness and friendship, Xi added.

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

The Chinese president also said the two countries should firmly support economic globalization and multilateralism.

Halimah told Xi that Singapore has been supporting the BRI from the very beginning. The country is willing to enhance exchanges and cooperation with China in areas such as economy, trade and culture, she noted.

Singapore would like to make joint efforts with China to maintain a rule-based multilateral trading system, she stressed.

Halimah is the second Singaporean leader to visit China in three weeks. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong attended the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and the opening ceremony of the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing in the Chinese capital late last month.

(Cover: Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and Singapore President Halimah Yacob shake hands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 14, 2019. /Reuters Photo)