Full coverage: Xi Visits Czech Republic, Attends Nuclear Security Summit

Full coverage: China’s Leaders

China and the Czech Republic forged strategic partnership Tuesday. The upgrade of bilateral relations came as a result of the talks between President Xi Jinping and his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman in Prague on the second day of Xi’s official visit to the Czech Republic.

It is a new era for China-Czech ties. Xi has held talks with Zeman at the Prague Castle, the seat of the Presidential Office of the Czech Republic. It is the sixth meeting between the two leaders in the past two years.

PRAGUE, March 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman sign a joint statement on lifting the two countries' ties to a strategic partnership after their talks in Prague, the Czech Republic, March 29, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

The two leaders have elevated bilateral ties to a strategic partnership. They decided to further strengthen political mutual trust, and firmly support each other’s core interests. The two leaders also agreed to create new growth points for economic cooperation.

Strengthening the synergy of China’s “Belt and Road” initiative will be the next focus of bilateral economic ties.

Meanwhile, the priority of bilateral economic ties is to enhance production capacity cooperation in manufacturing industries such as machinery, automobile and aviation.

The two countries will also push forward innovation cooperation in emerging fields, such as e-commerce, communication, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and environment protection.

Zeman said the Czech Republic is committed to becoming a gateway for China to the EU, as well as a transportation, logistics and financial hub.

The two countries will support a China-EU investment agreement, which is to be reached through negotiations as soon as possible.

Xi and Zeman also agreed to promote the development of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, and implement the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda. They believe that strengthening cooperation between China and Central European countries is complementary to the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership.

The two leaders also agreed to broaden people-to-people and cultural exchanges in various fields, including education, tourism and sports, and to increase the scale of exchange students.

After their talks, Xi and Zeman signed a joint statement to establish the strategic partnership. The two countries also inked a number of agreements on e-commerce, investment, science and technology, tourism, culture and aviation.