Nicola Sturgeon says she is "heartened" by the "enormous interest in Scotland" she is encountering on an official visit to China.

The First Minister has completed the third day of a trip to strengthen trade and cultural links between the two nations.

She used a speech in Beijing at a Unicef event earlier on Tuesday to highlight how both China and Scotland are working to tackle poverty and improve life for children.

Sturgeon also held "constructive" talks with the Chinese vice premier Hu Chunhua during the second day of her visit on Monday.

The discussions with Hu Chunhua focused on strengthening co-operation between the two countries in the fields of trade and investment, education and culture.

The First Minister said she also raised the issue of human rights during the meeting, after being briefed on the human rights situation in China by Amnesty International in advance of the visit.

Next, she will travel to Shanghai on Wednesday before ending the five-day trip in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Speaking to STV News on Tuesday from Beijing, Sturgeon said: "I've been really heartened by the fact there's an enormous interest in Scotland.

"There's a great awareness of Scotland but there's a real enthusiasm to learn more about Scotland and to grasp the opportunities for greater collaboration.

"That's very much in Scotland's interests.

"It will be good for our economy, our businesses and for society generally if we can take the opportunity to sell more of our world class goods and services to the Chinese market."

The focus of the official visit is trade, with Scottish exports to China rising by more than 40% last year, driven in large part by a 47% boost in sales of Scotch whisky.

It amounts to £2.2bn of exports from Scotland to China in 2017 compared with £1.6bn the year before.

However, no government contracts will be signed during this visit with Scottish ministers under pressure to ensure all future deals contain thorough human rights checks.

It comes after the First Minister signed a controversial £10bn memorandum of understanding with firms owned by the Chinese state in 2016, a year after her first visit to the country.

The deal collapsed after it emerged there were corruption concerns and human rights abuses related to the parent company of one of the firms involved in the memorandum, China Railway No. 3 Engineering Group.

Sturgeon told STV on Tuesday: "Scotland and China are very different countries: we've got very different circumstances, different outlooks in many respects.

"We don't always agree on some issues, but it's to our mutual benefit to take advantage of opportunities to collaborate more."