BEIJING — State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on April 25 held talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart Erlan Abdyldaev, and the two sides agreed to promote cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative.

“China always respects Kyrgyzstan’s choice of development path that suits its national conditions and firmly supports the new government of Kyrgyzstan to speed up national development and construction,” Wang said.

He said China stands ready to work with Kyrgyzstan to enhance alignment of respective development strategy, expand cooperation in various fields, and bring the two countries’ relations to a new level under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Wang said China stands by Kyrgyzstan to take the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) rotating chair after the Qingdao summit, and will work with the Kyrgyz side to hold a successful summit in 2019.

Abdyldaev, who is on a visit to China, attended the meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers April 24.

Abdyldaev said Kyrgyzstan would fully cooperate with China to guarantee the success of the upcoming SCO Qingdao summit in June.