Bejing. Photo credit: Wikipedia

El Salvador officially opened its embassy in the People’s Republic of China on Monday, with Geng Shuang, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, hailing the development as a friendly bridge between the political centers of two countries that has opened a new window for mutual understanding and built a new bond of comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, the globaltimes.cn website reported.

Mr Geng made the remarks during a press conference. He also noted that the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries is in line with the trend of historic development, conform with the interests of the two countries and of two peoples.

The two nations signed a joint communique in Beijing on August 21, 2018, to establish formal diplomatic ties after El Salvador cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan (‘Republic of China).

The vice foreign minister of China, attended the opening ceremony, together with El Salvador foreign minister Carlos Castaneda.

The two sides have signed 13 cooperation agreements under the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2018, China imported 210,000 tons of sugar from El Salvador, and El Salvador’s exports to China increased by 82 percent, Geng said.

In realm of people-to-people exchange, there are 35 young talents from El Salvador now studying in China, and there will be another 35 Chinese government scholarship recipients from the country coming to China.

China’s government has also set up more than 100 short term training slots for El Salvador.

www.globaltimes.cn