Hailing the traditional friendship between the two nations, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday exchanged congratulatory messages with Cameroonian President Paul Biya on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Over the last few years, the two countries have seen fruitful results yielded through cooperation while deepening political mutual trust, Xi said in his message, speaking highly of the relationship between China and Cameroon.

In 2019, China announced that it had written off almost $78 million from Cameroon's debt as part of the measures to ease economic hardship in the central African nation. 

The two countries have understood and supported each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns, and have coordinated closely in international and regional affairs, Xi noted.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China has been working with Cameroon and other African countries in fighting the epidemic, demonstrating the brotherly friendship between China and Africa that shares weal and woe, Xi said.

He emphasized that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Cameroon relations.

Xi expressed the willingness to work with Biya to take the opportunity of the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties to implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and enhance their joint efforts to build the Belt and Road to benefit the two countries and peoples and to make positive contributions to forging a closer China-Africa community with a shared future.

On his side, Biya hailed the tangible benefits to the people of Cameroon from cooperation with China. The Cameroon leader specifically noted that China has become an important force on the international stage.

What is even more encouraging is that China has been attaching importance to South-South cooperation and supporting African countries in achieving development and vitalization, the Cameroon president said.

He said he hopes to see closer ties between the two countries in the future to further benefit the people of the two countries.

(With input from Xinhua)