MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday congratulated Xi Jinping on his re-election as president of the People’s Republic of China.

Putin’s message posted on the Kremlin website reads, "The decision by the National People’s Congress is a recognition of your services as head of state and of the broad support for the course you have been pursuing to ensure China’s further socio-economic development and protect the nation’s interests in the international arena."

Moscow and Beijing will continue coordinating joint efforts to address major issues, the Russian president assured. "We will continue to coordinate our joint work to address the biggest issues on the regional and global agenda," Putin said in his message.

The Russian leader also expressed confidence that he and Xi would be able to boost bilateral cooperation in various domains. "Russia highly appreciates your personal contribution to strengthening relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction between our countries. I am confident that working together, we will ensure the further growth of fruitful Russian-Chinese cooperation in various fields," he underscored.

Putin wished his Chinese counterpart continued success in his state duties for the benefit of the friendly Chinese nation as well as good health and prosperity.

Earlier on Friday, Xi, 69, was handed an unprecedented third five-year term as China’s president. This became possible after the Chinese constitution was amended in 2018 to allow the head of state to stay on indefinitely. Also, the third plenary meeting of the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress voted on Friday to reappoint Xi as chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, the Xinhua news agency reported. The vote was unanimous, as all 2,952 delegates signed off on the move.