Chinese premier, Russian president meet on promoting China-Russia ties

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Russian President Vladimir Putin met here Tuesday and exchanged views on boosting bilateral cooperation and further promoting China-Russia ties.

During their talks, Li extended sincere greetings from Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Russian president.

China and Russia, the biggest neighbors to each other with a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, have seen their relations and cooperation keep moving steadily forward and continuously bear new fruits, Li said.

China-Russia cooperation is not only beneficial to the two sides, but also to regional and world peace, stability, development and prosperity, said Li, who arrived in Moscow Tuesday after concluding the 21st China-Russia Prime Ministers' Regular Meeting with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in St. Petersburg.

The two countries should implement the consensus reached by their heads of state and lift China-Russia relations to a new level, he said.

China is willing to work with Russia to explore cooperation potential and expand cooperation areas, said the premier.

China would also join hands with Russia to consolidate the recovering and stabilizing momentum of bilateral trade, and promote cooperation in major projects of oil, natural gas, civilian nuclear energy, and aerospace, Li said.

The two countries should enhance cooperation in the fields of finance and infrastructure construction, and promote bilateral cooperation of small- and medium-sized enterprises, which would provide necessary support for cooperations between the two countries' major enterprises while stimulating the market vitality, Li said.

China would also work with Russia to advance people-to-people exchanges and consolidate the public support for bilateral ties, he said.

For his part, Putin noted the close exchanges between the two countries' heads of state and government officials and the smooth operation of their inter-governmental cooperation mechanisms.

The successful 21st China-Russia Prime Ministers' Regular Meeting has promoted the development of pragmatic cooperation between the two countries, Putin said.

At present, Russia-China trade has stabilized for the better, with sound cooperation in the fields of electromechanical equipments and import and export of agricultural products, positive development in energy cooperation and great prospect for aerospace cooperation, Putin said.

Russia is willing to work with China to continue expanding bilateral investment, strengthen cooperation in such areas as high-speed railways and finance so as to promote the development of bilateral ties and advance cooperation, said the president.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination.

Russia is the last stop of Li's eight-day Eurasia trip, which has already carried him to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Latvia. Endi