Chinese president congratulates Georgian president on his re-election

BEIJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Friday sent a message of congratulation to Mikhail Saakashvili on his re-election as Georgian president.

Since China and Georgia established diplomatic relations 16 years ago, the two sides have witnessed smooth development of bilateral relations on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, Hu said in the message.

Exchanges and cooperation between the two countries have been fruitful in all fields, and the two sides maintained effective cooperation in international organizations such as the United Nations, Hu noted.

Georgia is an important country in the Caucasian region. China attaches importance to developing friendly cooperative relations with Georgia, which are healthy and stable on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. And the Chinese government respects the way Georgian people choose to develop their country, said the Chinese president in the message.

Hu said that he would like to make efforts with his Georgian counterpart to enhance mutual understanding and the friendship between the two countries, deepen the concrete cooperation in all fields, and push the China-Georgia cooperative relations to a higher level.