Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov?in St. Petersburg?Monday and the two leaders stressed the importance of promoting bilateral ties and cooperation.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) meets with Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov attending the 10th Meeting of the Prime Ministers of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in St. Petersburg, Russia, Nov. 7, 2011. [Ma Zhancheng/Xinhua]

Wen highly valued cooperation between the two countries, saying that it has brought real benefits to the two peoples.

In face of the increasingly complex international and regional situation, China is willing to work with Tajikistan to meet the challenges, deepen mutual trust and promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of agriculture, transportation and infrastructure construction, he said.

Wen also said that as the two nations are going to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their diplomatic ties next year, China stands ready to seize the opportunity to push the bilateral good-neighborly cooperative relations to a higher level.

Akilov hailed the mutually beneficial cooperation, stressing that to develop relations with China has been always a priority of Tajik foreign policy.

Tajikistan is willing to closely coordinate with China to implement consensus reached by the two countries' leaders in a bid to bring more benefits to the two peoples.

The two leaders were in the Russian city attending a meeting of prime ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The SCO, founded in Shanghai in 2001, groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.