President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that China stands ready to work with Africa to tap the unique advantages of their partnership and to boost bilateral cooperation for the benefit of both peoples.

Chinese people are both familiar with and fond of Africa, Xi said at a welcoming banquet for the dozens of leaders participating in the second summit of the 15-year-old Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

The continent is not only endowed with a long and splendid history, but is blessed with great prospects for dynamic development, said the president, who traveled to Africa on his first foreign trip after taking office in March 2013 and once called it "the continent of hope and promise."