BEIJING - Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Friday and both leaders stressed the importance of promoting mutually beneficial cooperation and bilateral ties.

The two leaders exchanged views on bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of common concern. They were confident that Wen's visit will serve as an important milestone for the development of China-Indonesia strategic partnership.

As two major emerging developing economies in Asia, China and Indonesia share broad interests and enjoy enormous potential for cooperation, said Wen, who arrived in Jakarta Thursday evening for an official visit.

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He said China-Indonesia relations have now entered a new stage of comprehensive development and carry regional and global strategic significance.

The Chinese premier said China attaches great importance to Indonesia's role in international affairs and is always ready to work with Indonesia to bring bilateral ties to a new stage and jointly create a bright future for Asia.

Yudhoyono extended warm welcome to the Chinese premier, saying that Indonesia highly values its relations with China and considers China as an important strategic partner.

Since the two countries established strategic partnership in 2005, bilateral ties have enjoyed a good development momentum and bilateral cooperation has grown comprehensively in various fields, said Yudhoyono.

The president said he hoped the two sides could take the opportunity of Wen's visit to expand common ground and map out cooperation, elevating the strategic partnership to a new high.

During the meeting, the two sides agreed to step up efforts to put in place the Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership by strengthening high-level exchange of visits, establishing a regular meeting mechanism and improving the mechanism of high-level strategic dialogue.

The two sides also pledged to deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields and worked to meet the newly-set trade target of 80 billion US dollars by 2015 while expanding two-way investment on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

Also on Friday, the Chinese premier visited University of Al Azhar Indonesia in Jakarta.

The premier joined students in singing an Indonesian folk song after watching them perform folk dances and reciting an ancient Chinese poem.

While visiting the university, Wen said China would further boost cooperation in education with Indonesia.

He lauded Al Azhar University's teaching mode of integrating Islamic doctrine with modern science, saying that practice had already trained a great number of talents who were capable of "meeting the demands of development."H   Wen hoped the university would continue to uphold the spirit of openness and inclusiveness, and further step up cooperation and exchanges with Chinese colleges and universities to boost bilateral cultural exchanges.

The premier said youth in China and Indonesia was the foundation and future of the bilateral friendship and he encouraged the Indonesian students to visit China so that they could see for themselves the real China.

Meanwhile, the Chinese premier on Friday met with an Indonesian international medical team which participated in rescue operations after a devastating earthquake hit China's southwest Sichuan province in 2008.

The premier said the Indonesian government and people extended a helping hand to the Chinese people immediately after the massive quake and that the medical team demonstrated the depth of international humanitarianism.

Wen expressed appreciation to the team, saying that what its members brought was not only emergency medical assistance but also the Indonesian people's affection for the Chinese.

Indonesia is Wen's second and last leg of his Southeast Asia tour, which has already taken him to Malaysia.