ANKARA

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday hosted Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, pledging efforts to advance a strategic partnership between the two countries, state media reported.

Xi said Beijing regards Nepal as “important” in its neighborhood diplomacy and is willing to work with Kathmandu to “consolidate traditional friendship and push for new progress in advancing the China-Nepal strategic partnership of cooperation featuring ever-lasting friendship for development and prosperity,” Xinhua News reported.

Appreciating Oli's “firm” commitment to promoting friendship between the two nations, Xi said, “China and Nepal, linked by the same mountains and rivers, are good neighbors, good friends and good partners, and bilateral relations have maintained sound and steady development.”

Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.