Chinese premier pledges joint efforts with Russia to promote regional cooperation

Xinhua

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday, pledging to work with Moscow to promote regional cooperation for steady progress.

China is willing to work with Russia to strengthen communication and coordination on international affairs, and cement cooperation within multilateral frameworks including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Li said, adding that the two countries will work to inject constructive force into the world's peaceful development.

During the meeting, Li conveyed Chinese President Xi Jinping's greetings to Putin and recalled the successful meeting between the two leaders earlier in November on the sidelines of the 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Vietnam's Da Nang city.

Noting that the development of economic cooperation has scored stable progress, Li said the two countries have continued to push forward their cooperation in such traditional fields as economy and trade, energy, aviation, transport infrastructure, production capacity equipment and agriculture, while making achievement in cooperation in such new fields as digital economy, technological innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises.

This shows that China-Russia cooperation has great potential and broad prospects, said Li.

China is ready to enhance the alignment of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the development programs of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), he said.

China would like to play well the leading role in cooperation in traditional areas, while focusing on effect of new growth drivers in emerging areas, he said.

Li also vowed to work with Russia to tap the development potential in the Far East and expand the cross-border trade, so as to benefit the two peoples.

For his part, Putin said that the frequent high-level exchanges and communication between China and Russia fully demonstrates the stability and high level of the development of the bilateral ties.

The two governments and relevant cooperation mechanisms have played an important guiding role in the pragmatic cooperation, he added.

He said that the trade between Russia and China has enjoyed a good growth momentum and the cooperation in energy, transportation infrastructure, agriculture and local areas has been actively promoted.

Putin expected the two countries to well align respective development strategies to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, as the Belt and Road Initiative and development programs of the EEU are complementary.

They also exchanged views on global and regional issues of common concerns.

Li arrived in Russia on Wednesday after wrapping up a visit to Hungary. He is expected to attend the 16th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the SCO to be held in Sochi, Russia from Thursday to Friday.