Upon the invitation of the Cypriot House of Representatives, Zheng Jianbang, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), led a delegation to Cyprus from Nov 26 to 28.

During the visit, he met and held talks respectively with Nikos Christodoulides, president of Cyprus, and Annita Demetriou, president of the Cypriot House of Representatives.

Zheng said that as good friends and partners, China and Cyprus have treated each other with equality and respected each other's core interests and major concerns since the establishment of diplomatic ties more than 50 years ago. In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Cyprus relations have been upgraded to a strategic partnership, and the two sides have collaborated closely in the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with fruitful achievements in mutual benefits, he added.

China's NPC is willing to work with the Cypriot House of Representatives to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, and deepen exchanges and cooperation to contribute to the sustained development of bilateral relations, Zheng noted.

The Cypriot side spoke highly of the high-level development of bilateral relations, noting that Cyprus firmly adheres to the one-China principle. They commended China for upholding a just position in international affairs and expressed willingness to maintain exchanges between the governments and legislative bodies to expand cooperation in economy, trade, culture, and infrastructure. They also pledged to continue playing a role in the sound development of the EU-China comprehensive strategic partnership.