BEIJING — China and Switzerland vowed on April 3 to further their innovative strategic partnership.

The pledge was made between State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Swiss Federal Councillor and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis when they held the two countries’ first round of foreign ministerial strategic talks.

In 2016, China and Switzerland established an innovative strategic partnership, the first of its kind between China and a foreign country.

China is willing to boost its innovation cooperation with Switzerland in the new era to fulfill the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, Wang said.

Earlier in the day, Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, also met with Cassis, calling for more progress in the two countries’ innovative strategic partnership.

Cassis said his country will push forward bilateral cooperation in various fields.