China, Russia pledge to enhance all-round cooperation

ST. PETERSBURG - Chinese and Russian leaders have pledged to implement bilateral agreements while expecting more results in pragmatic cooperation.

In a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli said Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a successful visit to Russia in May and attended the ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, Russia's term for World War II.

It was during that visit that Xi and Putin jointly set new goals for expanding and deepening all-round bilateral cooperation under new circumstances, which provided fresh impetus for the development of China-Russia relations, Zhang said.

Zhang said he visited Russia to implement the consensus reached by the two presidents and prepare for Xi's attendance at the summits of BRICS nations and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members to be held in Ufa, capital of Russia's Bashkortostan Republic, in early July.

Zhang said his visit was also aimed at preparing for the 20th meeting between the heads of government of the two countries.

Following the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, China has conducted all-round pragmatic cooperation with Russia on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, which is significant for both countries and the world, Zhang said.

He called on the two sides to implement the cooperation agreements they have reached to benefit the two countries and the two peoples.

The two countries should step up cooperation to integrate China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative and Russia's aspiration under the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) framework, said Zhang, urging the two sides to set up a mechanism to discuss concrete areas and projects for the integration.

Zhang said the two sides should actively promote large projects, including the construction of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway and the joint development of long-range and wide-body airplanes, and he hoped more such projects would advance investment and cooperation.

Zhang also called on the two countries to expand bilateral trade and push forward cooperation on finance as well as both the East- and West-Route gas pipelines.

For his part, Putin said Russia and China have achieved new results in economic cooperation and conducted increasingly close cooperation in international affairs, which has injected new momentum into their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination.

Putin said he looked forward to Xi's attendance at the BRICS and SCO summits in Ufa in July.

The president also talked about his scheduled China trip in September to attend the activities commemorating the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and in the World Anti-Fascist War.

Putin said Russia would strengthen all-round cooperation with China in politics, trade, economy, culture, people-to-people exchanges, high technologies, infrastructure development and international affairs, while actively advancing cooperation on the integration of the EAEU and Silk Road Economic Belt initiatives.

Zhang is in Russia to attend the second meeting of the China-Russia Investment Cooperation Committee and the 19th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum.