China and Chile decided Tuesday to elevate their comprehensive cooperative ties to strategic partnership.

The two nations made the decision in a joint statement inked by visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera after the two leaders held in-depth exchanges of views on the development of bilateral ties and cooperative mechanism.

The document lauded the rapid all-round development of bilateral ties since the two nations established diplomatic relations 41 years ago.

The two sides decided to upgrade their comprehensive cooperative partnership established in 2004 to strategic partnership on the basis of boosted mutual political trust, rapid development of economic and trade ties, fruitful cooperation in various areas and active coordination in international affairs, it said.

The two leaders agreed to continue to maintain high-level exchanges and deepen mutual political trust, said the statement.

Inter-governmental cooperation will be actively promoted via the current dialogue mechanisms such as informal consultations and contacts on issues of human rights and judiciary.

They are of one mind that as highly complementary economies, China and Chile need to further advance cooperation in such areas as trade, mining, agriculture, science and technology, renewable energy, the service industry, education and forestry.

Exchanges in other areas that enjoy great potential for future development and benefit both sides also need to be promoted, the statement said.

The two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in areas like quality supervision and customs, optimize trade structure to explore new growth areas and steadily expand two-way trade, and employ comparative advantages to promote the development of service trade.

They were also of the opinion that the two nations need to boost inter-provincial exchanges and strive to seize new commercial and trade opportunities.

China and Chile are both developing countries and concur with each other in a broad range of major international and regional issues, said the document.

They stand ready to enhance contact and communication in international organizations or within the frameworks of multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, the WTO, APEC and the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation, and keep close coordination on issues such as global economic governance, reforms on international financial systems, the Doha Round negotiations, climate changes and cooperation between developing countries.

The document noted that the Chinese premier's official visit to Chile has been a success, which is of great importance to the development of China-Chile friendly cooperative relations.

Wen flew in on Monday from Buenos Aires after concluding his official visit to Argentina.

Chile is the last leg of Wen's four-nation South American tour, which has also taken him to Brazil and Uruguay.