Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez said Thursday that he favors deepening ties between Uruguay and China, especially in trade and culture.

"China and Uruguay have an excellent relationship in a traditional way," Vazquez said here during a meeting with Tian Congming, president of China's Xinhua News Agency.

"We want to improve and increase commercial and cultural exchanges (between the two countries)," he said.

"We intend to strengthen even further, to expand even further, the friendly and brotherly relationship between our country and yours," Vazquez said.

Vazquez said the main area for potential commercial cooperation between the two countries is the agricultural sector because of Uruguay's high food output.

On the Xinhua News Agency, the Uruguayan president said the Chinese wire service has contributed to a multi-polar world in the face of a unipolar planet ruled by one hegemonic power.

Xinhua's information helps "diagnose the international situation" and contributes to spreading the ideas of other countries, including Latin American nations, he said.

Vazquez said the agreement signed by the presidency and Xinhua on Thursday will strengthen cultural ties between the two countries.

Vazquez believes that it is of "utmost importance" to introduce the achievements of both countries to each other's people.

The Xinhua News Agency, which transmits news to the world around-the-clock in several languages and also introduces social and economic achievements made by Latin American countries to the rest of the world, has strengthened Latin America's international position through spreading information about the region, Tian said.

"Our information service contributes to strengthening the traditional friendship between the Chinese people and the Latin American people," he added.

Uruguay is the last leg of Tian's Latin American tour, which also took him to Mexico, Chile and Cuba.

Source: Xinhua