Premier Li meets special envoy of British prime minister

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with British prime minister's special envoy and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, who is attending the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, in Beijing, capital of China, April 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Friday met with British prime minister's special envoy and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, who is attending the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.

Li said China hopes the two countries can respect each other's core interests and major concerns based on mutual respect and equal treatment, and push forward sound and stable development of the relations between the two countries.

Noting that the two sides have reached consensus to resume the China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue, Li said China is willing to work with Britain to meet each other halfway and accumulate positive factors for important bilateral exchanges in the next stage.

Hammond forwarded British Prime Minister Theresa May's signed letter to Li and said Britain highly praises China's further opening-up and its efforts to safeguard multilateralism and free trade.

Britain is willing to strengthen dialogue and communication with China, expand cooperation in areas including finance and services trade, and push the relations between the two countries to a new height, he said.