Premier starts visit to Russia to boost ties
Print Edition
CHINESE Premier Li Keqiang arrived in St. Petersburg yesterday for the 21st China-Russia Prime Ministers’ Regular Meeting and an official visit to the northern neighbor.
During the trip, Li and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev are scheduled to discuss issues of common concern, and the two sides are expected to sign cooperation agreements in such areas as trade, energy, customs and education.
Li is also due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The Russian side held a welcoming ceremony at the airport in Li’s honor. St. Petersburg is the hometown of Medvedev who paid a visit during his China trip in 2013 to Anhui, Premier Li’s home province.
The arrangement mirrors the sound momentum of the development of China-Russia ties. 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.
China believes that the visit will inject fresh impetus into the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, said Assistant Foreign Minister Li Huilai at a press conference last week in Beijing.
The high-level partnership between Russia and China had played a crucial part in helping to maintain a fair and just world order, and the two nations firmly uphold stability and security in the world, said Sergei Luzyanin, director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
On economic and trade cooperation, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui said late last month that thanks to efforts by both sides, China-Russia trade stopped declining and had begun to grow in the first half of this year, totaling US$31.7 billion, up 1.8 percent over the same period of last year.
The ambassador also expressed confidence in the prospects of cooperation between the two countries, citing their highly complementary economies and their agreement to synergize the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Eurasian Economic Union.
The economic belt is part of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, which also includes the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and aspires to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes. The EEU comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
Russia is the last stop of Li’s 8-day Eurasia trip, which has already taken him to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Latvia.
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