BOGOTA - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said here Tuesday his country would make every effort to secure an early return of the four Chinese nationals kidnapped last week.

The pledge was made when Santos met with Wang Lequan, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, who is leading a CPC delegation in a three-nation Latin America tour.

The president said he and his government attached great importance to the issue and were committed to freeing the abductees as soon as possible.

Wang said China was gravely concerned about the incident and hoped the Colombian side would guarantee the safety of the kidnapped Chinese and do its best to rescue them.

The four Chinese citizens, three engineers and their translator, were kidnapped in southern Colombia a week ago by unidentified guerrillas believed to be members of the outlawed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia group.

During the talks, Santos also said his country treasured its relations with China and was willing to enhance cooperation with China in energy, infrastructure, agriculture and other fields.

Wang said Beijing was also ready to work together with Bogota to push forward the relationship as well as ties between China and the Latin American region.