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

Over the past 50 years, bilateral relations have been developing steadily, Xi said in his message, adding that since the establishment of the China-Turkey strategic cooperative relationship in 2010, exchanges and cooperation in various fields have been moving forward in an orderly manner.

Since last year, Xi said, the two sides have been supporting each other in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, and carried out fruitful cooperation on vaccines, which has deepened the friendship between the people of the two countries.

He said he attaches great importance to the development of China-Turkey relations, and stands ready to work with Erdogan to take the 50th anniversary as an opportunity to further advance bilateral ties.

The two countries, Xi suggested, should understand and support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns, accelerate the aligning of development strategies, and push for steady and long-term development of their strategic cooperative relationship, so as to bring benefits to both countries and their people.

For his part, Erdogan said Turkey-China relations have a sound foundation for mutually beneficial development.

Over the past half century, bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, transportation, tourism and other fields has achieved tremendous development, he said.

The two countries, he added, have also promoted strategic cooperation on the basis of mutual respect and exerted a positive influence on the region and the world.

In the face of COVID-19, the two countries have been working together and helping each other to ensure the health of their people, he noted.

Turkey, he said, attaches great importance to the development of bilateral relations, and will continue to push forward strategic cooperation between the two countries.