North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the Chinese border city of Dandong on Saturday, with both sides underlining their traditional friendship and calling to boost cooperation.

The trip, Kim’s first visit to China in more than a year, comes ahead of next month’s Apec summit in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where Donald Trump and other world leaders are expected to gather.

He was welcomed and accompanied on his trip by Wang Huning, China’s fourth-ranked official, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Wang called on the two countries to expand people-to-people exchanges and economic and trade cooperation, as well as “strengthen strategic communication and coordination, and foster a peaceful and stable external environment”, so as to safeguard their “respective sovereignty, security and development interests”.