ROME - Premier Li Keqiang pledged Wednesday to further strengthen communication, coordination and mutual support with the UN food agency.

Li made the remarks when meeting Jose Graziano da Silva, director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

He also called for the deepening of South-South agricultural cooperation and trilateral collaboration.

The Chinese leader spoke highly of the FAO's role in safeguarding global food security, boosting international agricultural cooperation, and promoting poverty reduction across the globe.

To safeguard food security, individual countries need to take the issue of food and agriculture as a top priority, Li said, adding that concerted efforts of the international community are also required.

China, as the largest developing country, has already solved the problem of food and clothing, but still has an impoverished population of over 100 million, Li noted. "We will exert our utmost efforts to eliminate poverty caused by hunger, and we are confident that we can feed the 1.3 billion Chinese people mainly with our own efforts, so as to make our contribution to global food security," said the premier.

Meanwhile, Li expressed his hope that the FAO can continue giving full play to its role in optimizing the global food and agriculture governance system, enhancing policy coordination, pooling resources, and promoting international agricultural cooperation.

For his part, Graziano hailed the great contribution China has made to safeguarding global food security and eradicating hunger, and described China as one of the FAO's closest cooperative partners.

The FAO is willing to further enhance cooperation with China, jointly boost the stability of global food market as well as South-South cooperation, in a bid to safeguard global food security, said the FAO general-director.

Li arrived Tuesday in Rome for an official visit to Italy and a trip to the FAO headquarters. He will also attend the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting summit in Milan on Thursday and Friday.

Italy is the last stop of Li's three-nation Europe tour, which has taken him to Germany and Russia.