Giuseppe Yoffreda Yorio, ambassador of Venezuela to China, speaks at an event in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Sunday for promoting the first direct flights between China and Venezuela to be launched. [By Li Wenfang/chinadaily.com.cn]

The national flag carrier of Conviasa Airlines plans to launch the first direct flights between China and Venezuela in late October.

The two new routes will be operated between Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, and Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province in South China on a regular basis, both once a week.

The flight from Caracas to Guangzhou, with a stopover in Moscow, Russia, will take 23 hours and 45 minutes, with the return flight including also a stopover in Porlamar, a tourist city of Venezuela.

The Caracas to Guangzhou flight, with stopovers in Havana of Cuba and Moscow, will take 30 hours and 15 minutes.

On Friday, China and Venezuela celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Ambassador of Venezuela to China Giuseppe Yoffreda Yorio said at a promotional event in Guangzhou on Sunday he hopes the new flights will promote the bilateral relations in both tourism and economy.

A significant part of the Venezuelan Chinese are from Guangdong province and the flights will facilitate their travels between the two places, he said.

Work is underway for inking agreements on the cooperation in tourism with China, with multiple travel routes to be designed for Chinese tourists, he said.