President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko have spoken positively of the progress of China-Belarus relations over the past years and pledged to carry forward bilateral cooperation and friendship to further benefit both countries and their peoples.

The two leaders made the remarks as they exchanged congratulatory messages to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Belarus diplomatic relations on Thursday.

In his message, Xi said that relations between China and Belarus have forged ahead, with their traditional friendship growing stronger over the past three decades.

Jointly guided by him and Lukashenko, China and Belarus have successively established a comprehensive strategic partnership and a comprehensive strategic partnership of mutual trust and win-win cooperation, he said.

Xi noted that the two sides have built unbreakable political mutual trust, carried out fruitful cooperation in various fields and have been firmly supporting each other on issues concerning their respective core interests.

China and Belarus are also coordinating closely and effectively in international and regional affairs, he said.

Xi said that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries have been helping each other and fighting alongside each other, which demonstrated their brotherhood of sharing weal and woe.

The exchange of messages was the latest interaction between Xi and Lukashenko after they talked on the phone last week.

Xi stressed in his message that he and the Belarusian president have maintained communication through various means in recent years and reached important consensuses on developing China-Belarus relations under the new circumstances.

Xi said that he highly values the development of bilateral ties and is ready to work with Lukashenko to take the 30th anniversary as an opportunity to lead the two countries to more results in their comprehensive strategic partnership and Belt and Road cooperation, in order to bring benefits to both countries and their people.

Lukashenko said in his message that over the past 30 years, Belarus-China relations have been lifted from a friendly cooperative level to a comprehensive strategic partnership of mutual trust and win-win cooperation, with bilateral cooperation achieving fruitful results in various fields.

He said he is confident that the peoples of the two countries will pass on the spirit of sincere friendship and mutual support from generation to generation.