China will make greater contribution to promoting Africa's development by speeding up the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping said on Sunday.

He made the remark in a congratulatory message on the opening of the 33rd African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

Xi said that since last year, African countries have, under the leadership of the AU, actively explored the development path that meet their own conditions and adhered to solving African problems in an African way.

With the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area in 2019, Xi said that Africa has been united and strong with concrete achievements being made and international influence growing.

Noting that the China-Africa relationship is now at its best in history, Xi called for closer cooperation between the two sides in building a community with a shared future faced with changes unseen in a century in the world.

It is in accordance with the common interests of people in both sides, Xi added.

According to the president, the implementation of the outcome from the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has added new impetus to pragmatic cooperation in all areas.

China will continue to stick to the principle of sincerity, uphold the right approach to justice and interests, and comprehensively put into practice the summit outcome, Xi said.

In another development, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi briefed Senegalese Foreign Minister Amadou Ba on the latest progress in China's fight against the novel coronavirus during a phone conversation on Saturday. Senegal is co-chair of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Wang stressed that the Chinese people, being united and making all-out efforts, will surely secure an early victory against the epidemic.

After the victory, China will become stronger with more sustainable development, he told Ba.

Wang said that China will always remember the strong support from African countries including Senegal at this critical moment of combating the epidemic, adding that he believed that the AU summit will voice a consensus on supporting China.

The State Councilor also called on China and Senegal to take the 20th anniversary of the forum's establishment as an opportunity to implement consensus reached by the heads of state, and the outcome of FOCAC Beijing summit to push forward China-Africa cooperation to a new level.