Oct 31, Kathmandu - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday invited Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to visit China, the first formal talks between the leaders of the two countries since 2017. The meeting comes ahead of his first talks with Japan's new prime minister.

Relations between China and Canada have been among the most tense in the West in recent years, but the atmosphere between the two countries has eased somewhat after US President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed on Thursday to ease trade tensions.

"With the joint efforts of both sides, China-Canada relations have made positive improvements. China is willing to work with Canada to steer this relationship in the right direction," Xi told Carney at the APEC summit in South Korea.

Prime Minister Carney welcomed Xi's invitation, saying that "constructive and pragmatic dialogue" was needed to resolve current issues. He expressed confidence that such dialogue would "contribute to building a sustainable and inclusive international system."

Relations have been deeply strained since China arrested two Canadian citizens in Canada in 2018, following the arrest of a senior Chinese telecommunications executive at the request of the United States. Trade tensions have also been rising since then.

Canada recently imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel made in China, and China responded by increasing tariffs on Canadian canola imports by about 76 percent. Canada is one of the world's leading producers of canola. Canola is used to produce cooking oil, animal feed and biodiesel.