Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampiand visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called on Friday for more economic cooperation between the two countries.

The call was made during a meeting between Ciampi and Wen, whois here on a three-day visit to Italy, according to a press release by the Chinese delegation.

Wen told Ciampi that China and Italy are strongly complementary in economy and there is a great potential for more cooperation, especially in the areas of education, science and technology, culture and tourism.

For his part, Ciampi noted that there are still potentials forcloser relations between the two countries despite improvement ofbilateral ties in recent years,

Ciampi called for practical measures to encourage and support cooperation between enterprises of the two countries.

On international issues, Wen said that China and Italy uphold multilateralism, stress the role of the United Nations, emphasizesthe diversity of cultures and have the political will to expand cooperation.

China is willing to increase discussion and cooperation on major international issues with Italy and other countries of the 25-member European Union (EU), Wen told Ciampi.

The Italian president said China, as a permanent member of theUN Security Council, plays a positive role in maintaining peace and stability and Italy highly appraised it.

The two also discussed other international and regional issues,including the Middle East peace process, Iraq and the fight against terrorism.