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Interview: Russia-China ties developing dynamically, says Russian parliament leader

Xinhua, April 18, 2017 Adjust font size:

Russia-China relations are developing dynamically regardless of the international situation, said Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"Today, we are conducting a very productive dialogue with Chinese partners at all levels ... We have developed close inter-parliamentary ties of high intensity and in a variety of formats," the head of the lower house of the Russian parliament told Xinhua, ahead of the upcoming visit of Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC).

According to Volodin, the State Duma and the NPC have exchanged legislative experience on various issues, including non-governmental organizations, religion, national security and many others.

Expecting his first meeting with Zhang, China's top legislator, Volodin said he hopes they will be able to establish a good relationship.

"I am sure that Zhang's visit to Russia will be productive and it will contribute to the substantive content of the Russian-Chinese parliamentary dialogue," said Volodin.

Zhang's visit is scheduled to start on Tuesday, which is also the final leg of his four-nation tour on April 12-21 which includes trips to Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Russia.

Volodin spoke highly of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, saying that it creates a counterbalance to the current trend towards fragmentation of the world economy.

"This initiative is aimed at giving economic growth a comprehensive and indivisible character -- just like the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which is a prioritized project for Russia," said Volodin.

Launched in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative is a massive economic and trade project for common development and prosperity in countries along its routes in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Volodin said Russia has attached great importance to the aligning of the EEU and the initiative, and both sides are working actively to form a legislative base.

"The development of Russia-China ties is in the interest of the two peoples. Neither we nor our Chinese friends are going to change it," he said.

In his view, the development of bilateral ties is successful because it is based on mutual consideration of each other's interests, mutual respect, equality, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

"In recent years, our countries have managed to build and strengthen a system for coordination of mutual interests. I believe that the model of bilateral relations that we have created should become one of the examples of civilized interaction between countries in the 21st century," Volodin added. Endi