On November 6, 2010, Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Italian counterpart Giorgio Napolitano exchanged congratulatory messages to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-Italian diplomatic ties.

In his message, Hu said the China-Italy relationship had achieved stable development in the past 40 years. Especially in recent years, the two countries had maintained frequent high-level exchanges, deepened political trust, made great achievements in cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, science and technology, and environmental protection, and had increasingly vigorous exchanges in the areas of culture, education and tourism, he said. Both sides have also maintained sound communication and coordination in international and regional issues, he said. The two countries had no fundamental conflicts of interests or unresolved historical issues, despite their different national conditions, Hu said, adding that their exchanges and cooperation in various fields had been vigorous and of great potential. China attaches great importance to its ties with Italy and would take the opportunity of the 40th anniversary to strengthen exchange and dialogue with Italy at all levels, expand pragmatic cooperation in all fields, and constantly substantiate the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two sides so as to write a new chapter for China-Italy friendship and cooperation, the Chinese president said.

Napolitano said in his message that China and Italy, both nations with ancient civilizations, had enjoyed close contact in recent years in the fields of politics, economy and culture, and good cooperation in multilateral areas, maintained dialogues and reached wide consensus on major global issues. Italy is ready to take the opportunity of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties to push forward the development of China-Italy and China-EU ties, the Italian president said.

On the same day, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also exchanged congratulatory messages with his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi on the occasion.

The two countries had been constantly expanding and deepening their cooperation in various fields in the past 40 years, which had brought tangible benefits to the two peoples and greatly contributed to the development of China-EU ties, Wen said in his message. China is ready to work with Italy to further boost their friendly exchanges and deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation to achieve greater development of their comprehensive strategic partnership, Wen said.

For his part, Berlusconi hailed the substantial development of bilateral ties in recent years. He called on the two sides to regard the anniversary as an important opportunity for consolidating their comprehensive strategic partnership and to further promote bilateral ties and keep closer cooperation in international affairs.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also exchanged congratulatory messages with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini to mark the occasion.