BEIJING, May 20 -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Xinhua headquarters in Beijing on Tuesday and called for more cooperation between Xinhua and the UN.

During his meeting with Xinhua President Li Congjun, Ban hailed Xinhua's coverage of global affairs.

The United Nations "highly appreciates Xinhua's role in working actively with the UN and delivering messages to the world of peace, development, harmony and human rights" in eight different languages "without delay and correctly," Ban told Li.

"I hope Xinhua will be more engaged in working with the UN and international community," said Ban.

Li said Xinhua has conducted close cooperation with the UN in recent years, including setting up connections with 18 UN agencies and signing MOUs with nine of them, as well as initiating several global campaigns together with UN agencies to focus on children, poverty, environment, HIV/AIDS and other issues.

He said Xinhua will continue to make correct, comprehensive and timely reports to contribute to the cause of global public welfare.

This is the first time a UN chief has visited Xinhua. During his stay, Ban visited Xinhua's TV studios and multimedia center and did an interview with Xinhua.

Ban is paying an official visit to China starting from Sunday. During his five-day stay, he will attend the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held in Shanghai from Tuesday to Wednesday.