China and Colombia should seize the latter's formal accession to the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity to improve the quality and level of bilateral cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday.

Xi Jinping made the statement during a meeting with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who is in Beijing to attend the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC Forum /Community of Latin American and Caribbean States/.

After the meeting, the two heads of state witnessed the signing of a cooperation plan between the two governments to jointly build the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.