President Xi Jinping stressed on Wednesday the importance for the ruling parties of China and Vietnam to continue to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning on governance experience, as he sent a letter of congratulations to the 20th theory seminar between the Communist Party of China and the Communist Party of Vietnam.

In the letter, Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said that China and Vietnam are good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners, and belong to a community with a shared future of strategic significance.

The CPC and the CPV, both of which uphold and develop Marxism, unswervingly follow the socialist path and lead their respective countries in socialist construction, are facing many of the same or similar issues of the times, Xi said.

He said that the two parties have engaged in in-depth exchanges of experience in governance and have jointly explored a path of socialist modernization that suits their national conditions.

Together, they have advanced the localization and modernization of Marxism and promoted the development of the world socialist movement, constantly writing a new chapter of friendship of "comrades plus brothers" in the new era, Xi said.

Xi stressed that the theory seminar, as an important platform for exchange and dialogue between the two parties, has played a positive role in consolidating friendship and mutual trust, enhancing ideological consensus, and promoting the development of China-Vietnam relations.

Since the first seminar took place in Beijing in 2003, such theoretical exchanges have been held annually in the two countries alternately. On Wednesday, the two parties convened the 20th theory seminar in Ninh Binh, Vietnam.

Xi said it is hoped that both sides will stay true to their original aspiration, uphold fundamental principles and break new ground, and continue to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning on governance experience.

He also called for joint efforts to deepen theoretical discussions and academic exchanges, and jointly enhance their understanding of the laws that underlie governance by a Communist party, socialist construction, as well as the development of human society.

Such efforts, Xi said, will provide theoretical support for the two countries' respective socialist cause and the construction of the China-Vietnam community with a shared future, and contribute to the noble cause of human peace and development.