QUITO – Ecuador and China signed three cooperation agreements on Wednesday in the areas of hospital infrastructure and education technology, providing a further boost to bilateral relations.

Deals covering the construction of a hospital in the western coastal city of Chone and the incorporation of information and communications technology in the field of education were signed at the Foreign Ministry building.

The two nations also signed an economic and technical cooperation agreement for the non-reimbursable provision of funds by China to Ecuador for a hospital project in the western coastal town of Bahia de Caraquez, the ministry said in a statement.

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa and China’s ambassador to the Andean nation, Wang Yulin, signed the three agreements in a ceremony also attended by Ecuador’s education and health ministers, Fander Falconi and Veronica Espinosa, respectively.

These latest agreements further boost diplomatic ties that date back 37 years and have been strengthened over the past decade.

In a move coinciding with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the Andean nation in 2016, the nations raised their bilateral relationship to the level of a “comprehensive strategic partnership.”

More than 90 Chinese companies currently operate in Ecuador.

The two countries have signed a dozen cooperation agreements in the finance, politics, culture, communications, extradition and production areas, while a cooperation accord also was reached in the wake of Ecuador’s devastating April 2016 earthquake.