Xi greets new Vietnamese president

President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent a congratulatory message to Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, on his election as new president of Vietnam.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China and Vietnam are friendly neighbors and important partners with a long history of friendship.

Xi and Trong have visited each other's countries regularly in the past few years, and as recently as 2017.

Xi said they have reached a series of important agreements on promoting the relations between the two countries and parties since last year.

The bilateral relationship has been improving, he said, and the two governments and ruling parties have been close in the exchange of governance experience, with deepening cooperation in various areas which has brought concrete benefits to their people.

Xi said he highly values developing mutual ties and is wiling to use the opportunity of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation to strengthen the political guidance of bilateral ties and push forward the relationship to a new level.

After being elected president, Trong on Tuesday afternoon took the oath.

Trong is the first Vietnamese leader to hold the two positions since founding president Ho Chi Minh in the 1960s. Trong was the first general secretary to visit former foe the United States when he met with president Barack Obama at the White House in July 2015.

Trong, born in 1944, holds a PhD in politics with specific field of party construction.

He has been a member of the CPVCC's Political Bureau since 1997. He served as chairman of the National Assembly from 2006 to 2011. He was elected CPVCC general secretary in 2011, and re-elected general secretary in 2016.

On Sept 23, two days after Vietnamese former president Tran Dai Quang passed away, Vice-President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh became acting president.

Xinhua and AP contributed to this story.