Cypriot President Demetris Christofias met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Monday to discuss bilateral ties.

Yang said the relationship between China and Cyprus has been fully developed over the long period since the two nations established diplomatic ties.

He noted that during Christofias' trips to Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008 and the Asia-Europe Meeting in October that year, the leaders of China and Cyprus reached important consensus that provided guidance for the future development of bilateral relations.

With joint efforts, the China-Cyprus relationship has made new progress since then, said Yang.

Mutual political trust became more solid while mutual visits at all levels became more frequent, and the two sides have achieved positive results in their pragmatic cooperation in various areas and have kept close coordination and cooperation in international affairs, he said.

China highly appreciated Cyprus's firm support on China's core concerns, said Yang.

Yang stressed that China always cherishes the traditional friendship between the two nations and is willing to work with Cyprus to implement the consensus reached by leaders of both nations.

China will broaden channels of cooperation, promote bilateral trade, and increase mutual investment so as to push the bilateral relationship to a new level, the Chinese foreign minister said.

He also said China welcomes Cyprus' participation in this year's Shanghai Expo.

Christofias said Yang's visit demonstrated the increasingly close and amicable cooperation between the two countries.

The Cyprus-China friendship is long standing and was established under the joint efforts of the elder generations of leaders from both nations, he said.

Cyprus is happy with the development of bilateral relations in recent years and is sincerely delighted to see China's rapid growth and elevation of its international status, said the president.

He also said Cyprus is grateful for the sustained and firm support from China over a long time.

Christofias said Cyprus will as always keep promoting the friendly cooperation with China, continue to firmly stick to the one-China policy, and make further efforts for the development of the relationship between China and Europe.

He added that Cyprus will actively participate in the Shanghai Expo in order to present his country to China and the rest of the world.