President Xi Jinping on Saturday said that China would like to work with Africa to advance cooperation in various areas and make unremitting efforts to build a closer China-Africa community with a shared future to benefit the Chinese and African peoples.

Xi made the remark in a message to congratulate African countries and their people on holding the 34th African Union summit.

In his message, Xi expressed his wish that African countries and people will continue to make greater achievements on the path of unity, self-improvement, development and progress.

Xi emphasized that 2020 was an unforgettable year for China-Africa relations. They supported each other and overcame difficulties in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, held a successful Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19, saw the continued advancement of China-Africa cooperation in different fields and both sides jointly safeguarded the interests of developing countries as well as international equity and justice, he said. That showed the world the high level of China-Africa relations, he added.

ALSO READ: Africa a stage for global cooperation

Noting that a new session of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is set to be held in Senegal this year, Xi said that China is ready to work with Africa to build strategic consensus, push for anti-pandemic cooperation and fully implement the outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing Summit.

China is also willing to work with Africa to advance deep and practical cooperation on Belt and Road construction, he added.

The two-day virtual African Union summit started on Saturday amid the severe health emergency caused by the pandemic, the source of great suffering and hardship.

READ MORE: Sino-African efforts to meet post-virus challenges

Xinhua contributed to this story.