Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday highlighted the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), vowing to further assist the African country in realizing the development potential of its abundant natural resources.

Xi made the remarks in a meeting with DRC President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, who is in Beijing for the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

The two countries are partners on the road to modernization, Xi said, hailing the fruitful cooperative results reached since last May, when the two sides decided to upgrade their partnership. 

"Many of the consensuses we reached at that time have been implemented," Xi said.

Xi also assured Tshisekedi that China will continue to support DRC in safeguarding national sovereignty and achieving independent development, while deepening cooperation in areas including agriculture, mineral processing, vocational training and other fields.

For his part, President Tshisekedi spoke highly of the "strong and sincere" friendship his country shared with China. "Bilateral cooperation is based on equality, respect and a high degree of mutual trust, and has achieved mutual benefit and win-win results," he said.

The DRC leader also commended the upcoming FOCAC summit, calling it "an important opportunity" for African countries to realize their development goals. 

Following the 2006 Beijing summit, the 2015 Johannesburg summit and the 2018 Beijing summit, the upcoming summit is another event gathering members of the friendly family of China and Africa, and is also the largest diplomatic event hosted by China in recent years, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

(Cover: Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with DRC President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, September 2, 2024. /Xinhua)