Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrived Saturday afternoon in Colombia's northern city of Cartagena, starting his official visit to the Latin American country.

In a written statement issued upon his arrival at the airport, Xi extended sincere greetings and good wishes from China to the Colombian people.

Xi said that despite the great geographical distance between China and Colombia, the friendship between the two peoples enjoys a long history.

Since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1980, they have maintained a steady growth of bilateral ties, he said.

China and Colombia have carried out fruitful exchanges and cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, trade, culture, education and technology, Xi said, noting they have also worked closely with each other in international affairs.

The Chinese vice president said his visit was aimed at strengthening friendship, expanding consensus, deepening cooperation and promoting common development.

During his stay, Xi will meet Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Vice President Francisco Santos and other high-level government officials to discuss bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern.

Colombia is the third leg of Xi's six-nation tour which has taken him to Mexico and Jamaica. He will also visit Venezuela, Brazil and Malta.

Xi left the Montego Bay earlier Saturday for Colombia, winding up his official visit to Jamaica.

Before his departure, Xi broke ground for the Montego Bay Convention Center, a cooperation project by China and Jamaica, and hailed the reciprocal cooperation between the two countries.

At the ceremony, Xi described the amity between China and Jamaica with a Chinese saying which says bosom friends stay close at heart though thousands of miles apart.

The China-Jamaica friendly partnership for common development, established in 2005, has led the bilateral cooperation onto a new stage, he said.

He also said the mutual understanding and trust between the two peoples have been deepened while cooperation in various fields have achieved remarkable progress.

The vice president said China highly values the friendly and cooperative relations with the Caribbean region and is determined to build an all-around cooperative partnership for equality, mutual benefit and common development with Latin American-Caribbean countries.

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett and Montego Bay Mayor Charles Sinclair were also present at the ceremony.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2009)