Let the Sino-Zimbabwe flower bloom, says Xi ahead of visit

File photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping (L front) holding a welcome ceremony for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in Beijing, China, Aug. 25, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

I look forward to having in-depth exchanges of views with President Mugabe and friends from all sectors of Zimbabwe during my visit, with the aim of enhancing friendship between our two countries, exploring new opportunities for co-operation in all areas and delivering more benefits to our two peoples.

·We need to continue to understand and support each other on issues involving our core interests and major concerns. China firmly supports Zimbabwe's efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests and its choice of the development path that suits its national conditions.

·We need to synergise our development strategies, translate our economic complementaries into more tangible outcomes of co-operation, carry out more exchanges on guidelines of development and take our practical co-operation to a new level.

·We need to strengthen our cultural and people-to-people exchanges, enhance co-operation in such areas as education, culture, health, tourism, youth, think-tanks and media, consolidate the public support and social basis for China-Zimbabwe friendship, and carry this friendship forward to future generations.

·We need to enhance our collaboration on the international arena and uphold the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries. China values the important contribution to the solidarity and development of Africa that Zimbabwe has made after assuming the rotating chairmanship of the African Union.

Following my visit to Zimbabwe, President Mugabe and I will attend the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg, South Africa. This will be the second Summit in the 15-year history of FOCAC, and the first China-Africa summit on the African continent.

As one Zimbabwe idiom goes, "Chikuni chimwe hachikodzi sadza", Chinese people also believe that, "When everybody adds firewood, the flames will rise high." I look forward to joining African leaders at the FOCAC Summit and working with them to advance our friendship and co-operation, lift China-Africa solidarity to a new high and build a better future for China-Africa friendship and co-operation.

Harare in November is decorated by full-blown red flamboyant blossoms. They give us enthusiasm, hope and strength. I am convinced that with the dedicated cultivation of the Chinese and Zimbabwean peoples, the flower of China-Zimbabwe friendship will bloom with even brighter splendour.