China and the Netherlands, as open economies and major trading nations in the world, should jointly support the rule-based international political and economic order, abide by the widely accepted norms including the UN Charter and the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and safeguard multilateralism and free trade, Premier Li Keqiang said on Oct 15.

Premier Li made his remarks when meeting with Dutch King Willem-Alexander during his official visit to the Netherlands. It is also Premier Li’s first trip to the European country as the Chinese premier.

Premier Li said the rapid development of Sino-Dutch relations in recent years, especially the exchange of visits between the two heads of state, has opened up broad prospects for bilateral relations.

The development of Sino-Dutch ties is conducive not only to two peoples but also to China-EU relations, he added.

China is willing to deepen cooperation with the Netherlands in various fields, Premier Li stressed and added two sides should strengthen investment and financing cooperation to create favorable conditions for cooperation between enterprises of the two countries, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander said the close high-level exchanges between the Netherlands and China in recent years have strongly promoted the development of bilateral ties and the mutually beneficial cooperation as well as mutual investment of enterprises between the two countries.

Facing with the current challenges of the world, Willem-Alexander noted Netherlands and China need to strengthen solidarity and cooperation to jointly cope with the risk posed by uncertainties and maintain the stability and development of international trade system and the world.