Italian Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso said here on Tuesday that Italy attaches great importance to the Sino-Italian ties, and is ready to promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation.

Grasso's words came when he met with He Ping, editor-in-chief of China's Xinhua News Agency.

The Italian top lawmaker said that China, with ancient civilization, has registered remarkable achievement in the recent decades and made planning for future development. It has proved the effective governance capability of the Chinese leadership.

Grasso believed that the Italy-China comprehensive strategic partnership will see further development.

On his part, He said that as China's state news agency and a global news and information network, Xinhua has laid stress on the reports about the Sino-Italian relations.

Xinhua is willing to serve as bridge to enhance the understanding and friendship between the people of the two countries, He said.

The editor-in-chief has met with Giuseppe Cerbone, CEO and general manager of Italy's ANSA news agency. The two sides signed a cooperation agreement.

He has also visited the AGI news agency, Italy's newspaper Corriere della Sera, and Class Editori.

He also met with Ertharin Cousin, the executive director of the World Food Programme, on Tuesday afternoon. They exchanged views about how to intensify the cooperation between the two sides.