BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil on Friday exchanged congratulations on the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between the two countries.

In his message, Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 50 years ago, China-Venezuela relations have maintained a sound momentum of development, especially in recent years, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, the two sides have forged an "iron-clad" friendship and promoted the high-level development of their all-weather strategic partnership.

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He expressed his readiness to work with Gil to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and join hands to usher in the next "golden 50 years" of China-Venezuela relations.

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Over the past five decades, Gil said, Venezuela and China have shown the world that developing countries can build high-level relations based on equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect.

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Venezuela highly appreciates China's key contributions to the political settlement of international conflicts, the promotion of global development and the improvement of human well-being, and is willing to work with China to boost the continuous development of their all-weather strategic partnership, said the minister.