BEIJING -- China and Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday elevated their relations to a strategic partnership.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Umaro Sissoco Embalo, president of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, announced this when holding talks in Beijing.

Noting that the bilateral relations between China and Guinea-Bissau have deepened in recent years, political mutual trust has strengthened, pragmatic cooperation has expanded, and international coordination has been enhanced, Xi said China supports Guinea-Bissau in independently exploring a development path that suits its national conditions.

Xi said China is willing to work with Guinea-Bissau to inherit the traditional friendship, consolidate political mutual trust, expand pragmatic cooperation, continuously enrich the connotation of the strategic partnership between the two countries, and help Guinea-Bissau achieve better national development.

He stressed that China stands ready to strengthen friendly exchanges with Guinea-Bissau at all levels, enhance experience-sharing on governance, and expand cooperation in areas such as agriculture, mining, infrastructure construction and the blue economy under the guidance of the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Xi said China welcomes high-quality agricultural products from Guinea-Bissau to enter the Chinese market, and encourages Chinese enterprises to invest and carry out cooperation in Guinea-Bissau and help Guinea-Bissau transform its resource potential into development momentum.

China is willing to continue to provide support within its capacity for Guinea-Bissau's domestic construction, and will continue to send its rice experts and medical teams to assist Guinea-Bissau in ensuring food security and developing public health, he added.

Xi called on the two sides to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in education, youth and other fields to bring the two peoples' hearts closer. China will continue to provide government scholarships and training opportunities to help Guinea-Bissau cultivate more talents for its national development, he said.