Putin: Mutual trust ‘unprecedented’
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RUSSIA and China have ties at a very high level and bilateral cooperation is expanding steadily, Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday.
“We see each other as close allies, so of course we always listen to each other, by this I mean we keep in mind each other’s interests,” he told Xinhua news agency on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Putin is due in China tomorrow for a state visit, his fourth trip to the country since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013.
He said mutual trust between Moscow and Beijing had reached an unprecedented level and laid a solid foundation for cooperation in areas including trade, energy and infrastructure.
The two countries had established a strategic partnership two decades ago and signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation 15 years ago. Now their leaders meet regularly, and more than 20 intergovernmental mechanisms are in place.
Although it was not always easy to reach consensus on difficult issues quickly, it was possible, Putin said, to make them serve the common purpose of promoting bilateral cooperation.
The most important task in Russia-China trade is diversification, he said, particularly in boosting cooperation in high-tech areas. Citing fruitful cooperation in aerospace and nuclear power, he said Russia is also closely following the construction of a high-speed railway between Moscow and Kazan.
The 770-kilometer track, a joint project, is designed for bullet trains capable of running at up to 400kph, and is expected to cut the travel time between Moscow and Kazan from the current 12 hours to three and a half hours.
It “may very well be only the beginning of our broad cooperation in infrastructure,” said Putin.
“Our cooperation in culture is also of great value,” he said, adding that programs such as the Year of China in Russia and the Year of Russia in China are helpful in cementing mutual trust.
Meanwhile, both countries had witnessed a steady expansion in cooperation in such areas as foreign policy, armed forces and military technology.
“We have maintained contact regularly and carried out consultations on global and regional affairs,” he said, pointing out that such cooperation is a stabilizing factor in international affairs.
Cooperation is also gaining momentum thanks to the Xi-proposed Belt and Road initiative, which aims to pursue common development along ancient trade routes linking Asia with Europe and Africa.
This “very well-timed and appealing” vision holds great potential, Putin said.
At a recent meeting of the Eurasian Economic Union, all five members — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia — expressed support in cooperating with China within the Belt framework, Putin said.
In the first phase of cooperation, the two sides should set up a free trade area, he said, stressing that with more and more countries in the region interested in joining the ranks, the bloc needs to be open and inclusive.
This echoed Putin’s announcement at the St Petersburg forum that talks are to start this month with China on the creation of “a comprehensive trade and economic partnership in Eurasia” with the participation of the EEU and China.
When Putin meets Xi at the weekend, it will be the second time in days. Both are in Tashkent for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
“I expect to have friendly meetings with President Xi on a broad range of topics, with mutual trust, as we have always had,” he said.
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