Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that he stands ready to work with his Equatorial Guinean counterpart, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, to take the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries as an opportunity to keep pushing bilateral relations to a new level.

Xi made the remarks in an exchange of congratulatory messages with Obiang, calling on the two sides to consolidate political mutual trust, and deepen practical cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.