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.
For his part, 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.