Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (1st R) meets with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (1st L) in Rome, Italy, on May 5, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Rome on Thursday after the 7th joint meeting of Sino-Italian governmental committee and the 3rd meeting of Sino-Italian businessmen association.

Italy attaches great importance to China's status and influence in the world, and hopes to deepen friendly relations with China, strengthen mutual beneficial cooperation in the areas such as trade, investment, and push forward Italy-China comprehensive strategic partnership, Renzi said during the meeting.

Renzi said he looks forward to attending the G20 summit set for September in Hangzhou, China, and is willing to work closely with the Chinese side to help achieve positive results for the summit.

At the meeting, Wang Yi noted that positive progress has been made in bilateral cooperation in five priority areas agreed by both countries' leaders.