President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday respectively sent congratulatory letters to the ninth meeting of the dialogue mechanism between the ruling parties of China and Russia, held via video link.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, expressed his warm congratulations to the meeting.

Xi said this year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and Russia, and the establishment of relations between the CPC and the United Russia party.

Xi said in the past 20 years, China and Russia have carried forward the vision of lasting friendship and the principle of a new type of international relations while maintaining close comprehensive strategic coordination, which has set an example of developing relations between major countries.

The long-term institutionalized exchanges between the two parties have consolidated political and strategic mutual trust and promoted mutually beneficial cooperation in all dimensions between the two countries, Xi said.

The combined forces of changes and a pandemic both unseen in a century have brought the world into a phase of fluidity and transformation, he said.

Xi called on China and Russia, as major powers of global influence, to deepen comprehensive strategic coordination in the new era, and to play an underpinning role in safeguarding international fairness and justice, maintaining world peace and stability, and promoting common development and prosperity.

Xi expressed his hope that participants from the two parties can engage in in-depth exchanges and build consensus to open a new chapter of strategic cooperation between the two parties and contribute wisdom and strength to comprehensively deepening bilateral relations in the new era, promoting the establishment of a fairer and more reasonable international order, and building a community with a shared future for humanity.

In his letter, Putin noted that dialogue between the two parties has always been an important component of the two countries' comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership, and in spite of the impact of the pandemic, the two parties have maintained comprehensive exchanges from the central to local levels.

Putin said the two sides have engaged in in-depth discussions on major issues of bilateral cooperation, and have coordinated to form numerous social-political initiatives on party building and legislative work that meet the needs of reality.

Putin said he hopes participants of the meeting will carry out constructive and effective work to further consolidate the friendship and mutual understanding between the two countries and the two peoples.