On July 2, 2013, President Xi Jinping met at the Great Hall of the People with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of Macedonia, who comes to China for the Local Leaders' Meeting between China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries.

Xi Jinping said, China and Macedonia enjoy a profound traditional friendship and bilateral cooperation in all fields has made smooth progress in recent years. China places importance on cooperation with Macedonia and regards Macedonia as a good friend and a good partner. China will take the opportunity of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between the two countries, on the principle basis of mutual respect and equality, to further strengthen high-level engagements, to advance the level of cooperation and to push forward China-Macedonia relationship for greater development to benefit the two peoples.

Xi Jinping pointed out that China is committed to seeking common development together with all other countries in the world to achieve win-win cooperation. China-CEE cooperation has made positive progress in a relatively short period of time and is widely welcomed by 16 CEE countries. We should build up this platform of cooperation, tap the advantages of economic complementation and promote cooperation to yield more tangible outcomes.

Gruevski said that in recent years, the two countries have enjoyed sound development of bilateral relations. Macedonia attaches great importance to developing relations with China and thanks China for the support. Macedonia is willing to further deepen bilateral cooperation in the fields of politics, economy and people-to-people exchanges. Macedonia welcomes Chinese companies to invest and to develop their businesses in Macedonia and is ready to be a gateway for Chinese companies entering Europe.