Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli met with Prawit Wongsuwan, deputy prime minister and defense minister of Thailand, in Beijing on April 9.

China and Thailand share a time-honored, kinsmen-like friendship as their peoples share the same blood, similar customs and friendship from generation to generation, Zhang said.

He said the two countries enjoy complementarity in economies and have seen remarkable results from bilateral cooperation. As the countries celebrate the 40th anniversary of establishing official ties this year, the two sides will definitely advance bilateral relations to a new height on the basis of summing up the successful experience over the past four decades.

Zhang pointed out that Thailand is an important country along the Belt and Road economic corridor initiated by China. He said the China-Thailand railway and other cooperative projects are making progress, hoping that the two countries would continue to advance these projects in order to contribute to upgrading inter-connectivity for the Asia-Pacific region.

Prawit said Thailand places great importance on developing the all-around cooperative strategic partnership with China.

He said Thailand will continue to advance cooperation on the Thailand-China railway and actively participate in the construction of the Belt and Road corridor. He expressed the readiness to further deepen bilateral exchanges in all areas and advance bilateral relations to even greater dimension and depth.