Chinese state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi has met with New Zealand's deputy prime minister and foreign minister Winston Peters in Beijing. Peters's visit is the country's first high-profile diplomatic one this year. Talks of trade are expected to top the agenda as well as issues regarding regional security. As he welcomed Peters to China, Wang said bilateral ties have maintained steady growth in the past 46 years and that new development opportunities await the two sides. CGTN's Ren Xueqian has more.

The New Zealand government is ramping up its diplomatic efforts with China, a move welcomed by Beijing, where high-level officials from both countries met to further trade talks and cooperation.

WANG YI CHINESE STATE COUNCILLOR AND FOREIGN MINISTER "Top leaders between our countries are in close contact. China's relations with New Zealand has become an example for China's relations with other countries. China is ready to work with New Zealand to strengthen our relations through cooperation based on mutual respect, equal benefits and deepen our factual cooperation in working towards a greater development of our overall relations."

China and New Zealand share an extensive trade partnership -- one that was further mandated under the Free Trade Agreement signed between the two in 2008.

Under the deal, some 96 percent of goods exported from New Zealand to China enjoy duty free access. And that number is expected to rise in the next 6 years, as talks of an upgrade to the deal is brought up.

According to New Zealand, China is one of the country's top trade partners in the world, with two-way trade reaching over 22 billion New Zealand dollars in 2016. China is also its largest source of foreign students and second largest source of tourism with over 400-thousand visitors in that same year.

With the two countries looking to strengthen trade ties, these figures are looking to become even bigger in the coming years. RXQ, CGTN, BEIJING.