BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday exchanged congratulatory messages with Jamaica’s Governor-General Patrick Allen on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Jamaica was among the first countries in the English-speaking Caribbean region to establish diplomatic relations with China, Xi said.Over the past 50 years, China-Jamaican relations have always maintained a development momentum, with the two sides deepening political mutual trust, achieving fruitful results in practical cooperation and enhancing people-to-people friendship, he added.In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic , Xi said, China and Jamaica are helping each other and jointly fighting the coronavirus, giving new impetus to friendly cooperation between the two countries.Mr. Xi said he attaches great importance to the development of China-Jamaican relations and is ready to work with Allen, taking the 50th anniversary as a new starting point, to deepen cooperation in various fields, promote cooperation high-quality “Belt and Road”, jointly take the China-Jamaica strategic partnership to a new level and work together to build a China-Jamaican community with a shared future in the new era.Allen said that since the establishment of their diplomatic relations, the friendly relations between Jamaica and China have developed continuously with cooperation in various fields yielding remarkable results, which is encouraging.He added that Jamaica is ready to continue to strengthen cooperation with China and further deepen their strategic partnership. Also on Monday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was sent congratulatory messages with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.Li said Jamaica is an important cooperative partner of China in the Caribbean region, adding that China is ready to work with Jamaica to deepen and cement the strategic partnership, so as to bring more benefits to their people.For his part, Holness said Jamaica highly appreciates China‘s valuable support for its economic growth and development social and that his country was ready to continue to strengthen cooperation with China to ensure that the strategic partnership would benefit its people.