KIEV, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a Spring Festival reception on Thursday for ethnic Chinese and Chinese immigrants living in Kiev, capital of Ukraine.

Every year the Chinese embassy in Ukraine brings together Chinese for the celebration of the Spring Festival, also known as Chinese Lunar New Year, which is celebrated on Jan. 25 this year.

This year around 400 Chinese citizens, who were not able to celebrate the festivities with their families at home, got together at InterContinental Hotel in Kiev at the invitation of the Chinese embassy.

"Today, we celebrate the Spring Festival in advance, which is the biggest holiday in China. An important tradition is spending this holiday with your family. But we are abroad. Therefore, the embassy organizes such a reception every year so that we Chinese abroad feel that we are a family," Wu Lianwen, the minister counsellor of the embassy, told Xinhua.

The official spoke highly of the achievements in China-Ukraine relations, underlining that in January-November last year, bilateral trade amounted to about 10.7 billion U.S. dollars, and by the end of the year it should be around 12 billion U.S. dollars.

Wu also noted that cultural ties between the two countries are getting stronger.

"We organized large-scale exhibitions and concerts in Ukraine to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC (People's Republic of China), which were loved in Ukraine. We love the Ukrainian people, and they, in return, love the Chinese people," the diplomat said.