In November, President Hu reached consensus with Uribe on deepening bilateral sincere and friendly political ties, strengthening mutually beneficial, win-win and practical cooperation, increasing civil exchanges, and boosting multilateral coordination and cooperation, Xi said.

The consensus is the principle and direction for the development of bilateral ties in the following period of time, he added.

Xi said next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, and bilateral ties will enter a mature period that enjoys full-scale development.

He said both sides should seize this opportunity to fully implement the consensus reached by the two countries' leaders and focus on the work in the following four fields:

-- to increase mutual trust in political affairs, deepen their sincere friendship, and care each other's concerns;

-- to make use of the advantage of mutual complementarity, expand bilateral trade, and promote trade balance;

-- to broaden cooperation fields, actively explore new fields and ways for mutually beneficial cooperation, and meet the new demands of common development;

-- to encourage investment and cooperation in various forms and promote the level of bilateral practical cooperation, with the Chinese government encouraging and supporting Chinese companies to carry out trade, economic and investment activities in Colombia.

For his part, Uribe asked Xi to convey the Colombian people's greetings to President Hu and the Chinese people.

Colombia attaches great importance to its relations with China and has always cherished friendly feelings for China, he said, adding that the Colombian government and people have very much looked forward to Xi's visit and are satisfied with the growth of bilateral relations in recent years.

Uribe recalled last year's signing of the bilateral investment protection agreement which he and President Hu had witnessed, saying it is a notable sign of the development of cooperation between Colombia and China.

Uribe expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for its assistance to Colombia and voiced appreciation for China's accession into the Inter-American Development Bank, which he believes will help strengthen Colombia-China relations.

Chinese enterprises are warmly welcomed to invest in and trade with Colombia, which has rich natural resources and a steadily-growing economy, he said.

Noting that Colombia is impressed by the efforts China made to cope with the global financial crisis and stimulate economic growth, Uribe expressed his belief that China is an engine of the world economy and its development and growth pace are key to a quick recovery of the world economy from the financial crisis.

Colombia stands ready to broaden its cooperation with China and push their relationship to new heights, he said.

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

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2009)