China and the Philippines Thursday signed in Manila two landmark agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation and consular relations, at the height of a two-day official visit by Beijing's top diplomat.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi inked the deals with his Filipino counterpart Alberto Romulo in the Philippine presidential palace after meeting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. They pledged to strengthen political, economic and tourist exchanges between the two countries.

The first agreement, the Joint Action Plan for Strategic Cooperation, maps out the general directions in both countries' bilateral cooperation in the next five years, while the second -- the Philippines-China Consular Agreement -- is the first consular agreement that the Philippines has negotiated with another country.

The accord addresses long-standing concerns of the Philippine Embassy and Consulates General in China with regard to the provision of assistance to nationals (ATN) services, such as notification of arrests and detention of Filipino nationals, repatriation and settlement of disputes, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said.

Both agreements were initiated by Chinese President Hu Jintao and Arroyo in 2005 during Hu's visit to the Philippines.

Yang said China and the Philippines are good neighbors and a good bilateral relationship is in the interests of both peoples and will help maintain peace and prosperity in the region.

In a bilateral meeting held earlier in the day, Romulo and Yang agreed to maintain the momentum and frequency of high-level visits, and enhance practical cooperation in a broad range of fields. They also pledged to maintain peace in the South China Seas and refrain from taking provocative actions that may rock the bilateral ties.

Yang, who was promoted to the top diplomatic post in 2007, flew in from Bangalore, India where he met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna at the eighth foreign ministers' meeting of the three countries.

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