BEIJING — Relations between China and Mongolia have entered into fast-track in recent years with fruitful results gained through practical cooperation, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Feb 24.

Wang made the remarks in a telephone conversation with the newly-appointed Mongolian Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg.

China attaches great importance to the friendly neighborship with Mongolia, and always puts this relation at a specially significant place in China's neighborhood diplomacy, he noted.

This year is historically meaningful for both China and Mongolia as people of each country will respectively greet the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China and Mongolian People's Party, Wang said.

Both sides should jointly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, promoting greater development of the China-Mongolia comprehensive strategic partnership and bringing about more benefits to both peoples, he added.

In the face of the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic, governments and peoples of China and Mongolia have shared the weal and woe, and reached out to each other with assistance and support, lifting the bilateral ties to a new level, Wang said.

Noting that the touching story of Mongolia donating 30,000 sheep to China is widely known in both countries and the vaccines sent by China has arrived recently in Mongolia, Wang said he expects the two sides can further strengthen anti-pandemic cooperation until the pandemic is completely defeated.

Economic and trade cooperation is an important support for China-Mongolia relations, Wang said, adding that the two sides need to speed up the synergy between China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Development Road Initiative of Mongolia, expand the areas and upgrade the level of cooperation so as to compensate for the losses caused by the pandemic as soon as possible.

For her part, Battsetseg thanked China for its selfless help to her country in fighting the pandemic, saying that the two countries have maintained the development momentum of bilateral ties and continuously strengthened practical cooperation amid the pandemic, setting a good example of how countries support each other in response to adversities.

The new Mongolian administration attaches great importance to developing the comprehensive strategic partnership with China, hoping to enhance political mutual trust, deepen BRI cooperation and push for sustained rapid development of their bilateral ties, she said.