Singaporean President Halimah Yacob (R) meets with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Singapore Aug. 2, 2018. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)

SINGAPORE, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Singaporean President Halimah Yacob met with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi here on Thursday, promising to deepen bilateral cooperation.

Halimah Yacob noted that Singapore and China have enjoyed friendly ties and bilateral cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results.

She hoped that the two countries would explore new ways of expanding the mutually beneficial cooperation and speeding up the talks on bilateral free trade agreement.

Wang Yi, for his part, said this year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up as well as late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's visit to Singapore, adding that Singapore has made contributions to China's reform and opening-up in different stages.

Wang said China appreciated the fact that Singapore was among the earliest countries to actively support and respond to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

He expressed the belief that China and Singapore's commitment to building the Belt and Road together would not only open up new prospects for the bilateral relations, but also inject new impetus into Singapore's development.