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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 his sincere congratulations and best wishes to Putin and the Russian people.

Xi pointed out that the year of 2022 was an extraordinary year.

In the face of the rapidly evolving international situation and the continuous spread of the global pandemic, Xi said the China-Russia relations maintained a healthy development momentum.

The economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has made steady progress over the past year, Xi said, adding that cooperation in the fields of energy, investment and connectivity has achieved new results, providing impetus to the two countries’ common development.

The two sides also officially launched the China-Russia Years of Sports Exchanges, which further deepened the mutual understanding and traditional friendship of the people of the two countries, Xi added.

The upcoming 2023 is the first year for China to fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi said, adding that the China-Russia relations will also usher in new opportunities for development.

Xi said he is willing to keep in close touch with President Putin and lead the two sides to deepen comprehensive strategic coordination and practical cooperation in various fields, aimed at bringing benefits to the two countries and their peoples.

For his part, Putin first sent heartfelt holiday greetings to President Xi and wished the friendly Chinese people happiness and well-being.

The Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership continued to strengthen in 2022, showing strong momentum of development and withstanding the test of external challenges, Putin said.

The political dialogue between the two countries was rich in content, he said, adding that bilateral trade volume hit a record high and construction of major cross-border transportation infrastructure projects was completed.

Putin said the successful holding of the Years of Sports Exchanges between China and Russia has made important contribution to promoting the people-to-people cooperation between the two countries.

Through joint efforts, Putin said he believed that both sides will elevate bilateral cooperation to a new and higher level to bring benefits to the two peoples.

On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang exchanged messages of New Year greetings with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Li said the China-Russia all-round practical cooperation continued to deepen over the past year, with people-to-people exchanges getting closer and the friendly social and public opinion foundation between the two countries getting consolidated.

Both sides successfully co-chaired the 27th regular meeting of premier and prime minister between China and Russia, which reached important consensus, Li said.

Li said he is willing to enhance communication and exchanges with Mishustin to promote the practical cooperation in various fields to achieve more substantial results.

For his part, Mishustin said the Russia-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership continues to move forward, adding that the consensus reached under the regular meeting of premier and prime minister will help enhance the strategic coordination between the two countries and improve the well-being of the two peoples. – CGTN