Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday exchanged messages of congratulations on the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. 

In his message, Xi said China-Turkey relations have developed steadily during the past 50 years. Since the establishment of a strategic cooperative relationship in 2010, bilateral exchanges and cooperation have proceeded in an orderly fashion, he added. 

Xi underscored mutual support between the two sides in the fight against COVID-19 since last year and fruitful cooperation in vaccines, stressing that friendship between the two peoples has been deepened. 

Xi said he attaches great importance to the development of China-Turkey relations and stands ready to make joint efforts with Erdogan to understand and support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests, accelerate the alignment of development strategies, and promote the steady development of the China-Turkey strategic cooperative relationship. 

Erdogan said in his message that there is a good foundation to develop mutually beneficial relations between Turkey and China. Huge progress has been made in bilateral cooperation in various fields such as trade, investment, transportation and tourism during the past half century, he noted. 

The two countries have promoted strategic cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, making positive impacts regionally and globally, the Turkish president said. 

He hailed solidarity and mutual assistance between the two sides in the fight against the pandemic. Turkey highly values the development of bilateral ties and will continue to promote their strategic cooperation, he said. 

China and Turkey established diplomatic ties on August 4, 1971. Bilateral trade volume reached $24.08 billion in 2020, making China the second biggest trading partner of Turkey and its top import supplier, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

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(Cover: Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is in Beijing to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 13, 2017. /Xinhua)