Ties with Russia remains a priority: Wen

MOSCOW - Premier Wen Jiabao said Wednesday on his arrival in Moscow that China will continue to make relations with Russia one of its priorities.

Wen made the remarks in a written speech delivered at the airport Wednesday evening after a visit to Kyrgyzstan, where the Chinese premier attended the prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

With international and regional situations becoming more and more complicated, Wen said, China and Russia should continue to deepen their comprehensive strategic coordination partnership and push their cooperation to a higher level.

China is willing to double its efforts to implement the consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries in June and strive to realize the 10-year plan for China-Russia relations, he stressed.

Wen said that further development of bilateral relations will contribute to world peace, stability and prosperity.

Wen was expected to hold talks with Russian leaders and exchange views with them during his one-day visit on issues relating to bilateral ties, international and regional issues and other matters of common concern.

"The consensus to be reached will inject more dynamics into the continued, sound and stable development of the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between China and Russia," he said, adding that the annual meeting mechanism between the two prime ministers has played a special role in strengthening and deepening pragmatic cooperation between the two neighbors.

The meeting mechanism, launched in the 1990s, is one of the key links between the leaders of the two countries.