Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr George W. Vella started his official visit in China by meeting his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing. During the meeting the two ministers expressed satisfaction at the excellent long-standing relations between the two countries. They also noted the frequency of official visits between the two countries as well as the consistent pattern of concluding important bilateral agreements in a range of sectorial fields, from infrastructural matters, sport and intellectual property amongst others.

In thanking Minister Wang Yi, Minister Vella underlined the willingness to further these relations in other fields of mutual benefit.

Minister Wang Yi fully reciprocated the intention expressed by Dr Vella to broaden the span of avenues of cooperation between the two countries and to continue exchanging views on regional and international matters.

The two ministers referred to the importance of closer EU-China relations and recalled the EU-China summit held in June 2015. In this respect Minister Vella briefed Minister Wang Yi about the preparations underway in relation to Malta's Presidency of the Council of the European Union which will commence in 2017.

Following this meeting, Minister Vella proceeded to sign an agreement on film cooperation with the Vice-Minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Film, Radio and Television Tong Gang. This agreement resulted from the initiative taken by the Maltese Embassy in Beijing during the last few months.