Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged New Year greetings on Monday.
In his congratulatory message to Putin, Xi said that the year 2018 has a special significance in China-Russia relations, and both countries have smoothly completed their respective important domestic political agendas and opened a new era for China-Russia ties, Xinhua reported.
The Chinese president said that during the year, China and Russia witnessed more frequent high-level exchanges, deepened mutual political trust and a series of achievements from bilateral pragmatic cooperation in various fields.
“The Year of China-Russia Local Cooperation and Exchange program proceeded smoothly in 2018, and the popular support for friendship from generation to generation between the two peoples has been further consolidated,” added Xi.
The year 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, Xi said, noting that he is willing to work with Putin to prompt bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields to make new progress and bring more benefits to the two countries and peoples.
For his part, Putin extended warm New Year greetings to Xi, and wished Chinese people happiness and good health.
In his congratulatory message, Putin described Russia-China relations in 2018 as comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination that reached an unprecedented level with substantiated political dialogues and rapidly expanding two-way trade.
“The Year of China-Russia Local Cooperation and Exchange got off to a good start, and the two countries conducted fruitful cooperation to solve major global and regional issues,” he said.
Russia and China will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties in 2019, the Russian strongman said, voicing his belief that both sides will take the opportunity to continue effective cooperation in bilateral and multilateral affairs.
Source: Agencies
