Reception marks 58th anniversary of China, Russia ties

BEIJING—A reception was held here Tuesday to mark the 58th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia.
Jiang Zhenghua, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature body, attended the reception. President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) Chen Haosu said at the reception China-Russia relations have developed to a higher level with the effective support of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At the occasion of the Year of Russia in China and the Year of China in Russia programs, China and Russia have conducted substantial cooperation in fields of politics, economy and trade, science and culture, producing fruitful results, said Chen, who is also president of China-Russia Friendship Association.
Sergey Razov, Russian ambassador to China, said the current Russia-China ties are of the best in the history. The national year programs boost the mutual understanding of the two peoples and further step up the friendship between the two countries. The reception was held by the CPAFFC and the China-Russia Friendship Association. Some 150 people from the two countries attended.
China and Soviet Union forged diplomatic ties on October 2, 1949. On December 27, 1991, China and Russia agreed in Moscow to continue the diplomatic ties. China and Russia agreed here on Friday to improve the trade structure, expand investment and technological cooperation in line with the principle of reciprocity.
Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and her Russian counterpart Alexander Zhukov held a meeting in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, to prepare for the regular meeting between the prime ministers due to be held in Moscow in November. Wu said Sino-Russian strategic and cooperative partnership had stepped into the second decade. The bilateral trade had exceeded 30 billion U.S. dollars in the first eight months and could reach record high at the end of the year.
She said the two countries had improved the trade structure and cooperation on energy resources, nuclear power, science and environmental protection had made remarkable achievement. She particularly mentioned the two countries should speed up the cooperation on infrastructure and wood intensive processing.
Alexander Zhukov said “the Year of China” in Russia had enhanced the cooperation in all fields, the trade between the two countries had increased and enterprises cooperation had been vigorous.—Xinhua