Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin began their talks today at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing reported TASS: The Russian delegation is represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Ministers Alexander Novak and Dmitry Chernyshenko, deputy head of the presidential administration Maxim Oreshkin, presidential aide Yury Ushakov, Russian Ambassador to China Igor Morgulov, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, Director of the Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev, and Roscomsos CEO Yury Borisov.
The Chinese side is represented by Director of the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party Cai Qi, Vice Premier of the State Council Ding Xuexiang, Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, Vice Premier of the State Council He Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council Zhang Guoqing, State Council member Shen Yiqin, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui, and Deputy Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.
Earlier reports quote Putin as saying at the meeting that relations between Russia and China are not opportunistic and are not directed against anyone, “It is of fundamental importance that relations between Russia and China are not opportunistic and are not directed against anyone. Our cooperation in world affairs today serves as one of the main stabilizing factors in the international arena,” the Russian leader pointed out.
According to Putin, Russia and China together uphold the principles of justice and a democratic world order that reflects multipolar realities and a world order based on international law. “Russia and China are successfully cooperating in the UN, BRICS, SCO and G20. We are determined to further harmonize integration processes in the Eurasian space, to combine the potential of the Eurasian Economic Community and your, my dear friend, Belt and Road Initiative,” the Russian leader listed.
Putin expressed hope that his current visit would give an additional impetus to the development of the entire complex of bilateral cooperation. “I would like to emphasize: I am very happy to arrive in China and to meet with you,” Putin told Xi Jinping.
“Moscow and Beijing have indeed developed a strong background in technical cooperation,” the Russian leader said. He reiterated that in 2023, the bilateral trade turnover increased almost by one-fourth, reaching $227 bln.
“By the end of last year, Russia was in the fourth place among China’s trade partners. This was directly influenced by the approval of a plan of development of key directions of Russian-Chinese economic cooperation until 2023 following your visit to Moscow in March 2023,” Putin told Xi.
Putin identified energy, industry and agriculture as priorities and separately noted cooperation on hi-tech, innovations, infrastructure construction and transport. “Humanitarian interaction is expanding. According to our agreement, we will hold cross-years of Russia and China’s culture in 2024-2025,” he added. While greeting the Chinese president, Putin noted that he was sincerely happy to visit hospitable China again.
