Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), met with Freddy Padilla de Leon, commander-in-chief of Colombia's Armed Forces, on Tuesday.

Chen hailed the two country's growing bilateral ties since forging diplomatic relations in 1980.

He said China would like to strengthen military exchanges with Colombia to work toward multi-tier and all-round military-to-military development.

Leon said Colombia would like to work closely with China on counter-terrorism and military education among other things.

Chen, also a member of the Central Military Commission (CMC), China's top military authority, gave Leon a red-carpet welcome before their hour-long talk in downtown Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2008)