Xi, Putin exchange New Year greetings

BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, exchanged messages of New Year greetings on Saturday.

On behalf of the Chinese government and people, Xi extended sincere congratulations and best wishes to Putin and the Russian people.

Xi said that the year of 2022 has been an extraordinary one, and that facing the rapidly evolving international situation and the continuous spread of the global pandemic, China-Russia relations have always maintained a healthy development momentum.

Over the past year, China-Russia economic and trade cooperation has made steady progress, with new achievements made in energy, investment, connectivity and other fields, providing impetus to the common development of both countries, Xi said.

The two sides officially launched the China-Russia Years of Sports Exchanges, further deepening mutual understanding and traditional friendship between their peoples, Xi added.

He pointed out that the coming year of 2023 will be the first year for China to fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and China-Russia relations will also embrace new opportunities for development.

Xi said he is ready to maintain close exchanges with Putin and lead the two sides to deepen comprehensive strategic coordination and practical cooperation in various fields so as to benefit the two countries and two peoples.

For his part, Putin extended heartfelt festival congratulations to Xi, and wished the friendly Chinese people happiness and good health.

Putin said that in the past year, the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination has been continuously strengthened, which has shown strong momentum of development and withstood the test of external challenges.

The political dialogue between the two countries has a wide-ranging agenda, the bilateral trade volume has reached a record high, and major cross-border transportation infrastructure projects have been completed, Putin said, adding that the Russia-China Years of Sports Exchanges has been successfully launched, making an important contribution to bilateral cooperation on people-to-people exchanges.

Putin said he believes that with the joint efforts, the two sides will elevate their cooperation to a new and higher level, and bring benefits to the Russian and Chinese people.

On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin also exchanged New Year greetings.

In the past year, Li said, China and Russia have been deepening their all-round practical cooperation and people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and the social foundation and public support for the bilateral friendship has been further consolidated.

The two sides successfully held the 27th regular meeting of premier and prime minister and reached important consensus, Li said, adding that he is willing to strengthen communication and exchanges with Mishustin to promote practical cooperation in various fields between the two countries to achieve more tangible results.

Mishustin said that Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is constantly moving forward, expressing his belief that the consensus reached within the framework of regular meetings of premier and prime minister will help enhance the bilateral strategic coordination and improve the well-being of the people in the two countries. ■