Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in St Petersburg today, for the 31st regular meeting between the two countries’ heads of government. They signed a joint communiqué at an official ceremony. Two rounds of talks were held at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in central St. Petersburg.
Underscoring the strategic importance of the Russia–China relationship, Li Qiang began, “Under the strategic leadership of leader Xi Jinping and President Putin, China-Russia relations have entered a new stage of more substantial and specific accelerated development.
“Over the past few decades, regardless of how the international situation has changed, our commitment to good-neighborliness, friendship, cooperation, and development has remained constant. We [China and Russia] adhere to the principles of non-alignment, non-confrontation, and not targeting third parties; we uphold the spirit of mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation; and we promote engagement aimed at achieving comprehensive results. In doing so, we have created a model of high-quality cooperation and a high level of mutual trust between major powers and neighboring countries,”
Premier Mishustin said that “the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation serves as the basic guideline,” since it has been in effect for 25 years. The Russian prime minister emphasized that his and Li Qiang’s joint work “is aimed at maximizing the creative potential of Russia–China cooperation, creating new possibilities for industrial and investment growth, and promoting large joint projects in industry, energy, high technology, and the digital economy…. Most importantly, we aim to ensure a prosperous life for the citizens of Russia and China…. Despite intensified external pressure, trade and economic cooperation between Russia and China is showing very strong momentum. Over the past 25 years, our mutual trade turnover has grown more than 30-fold. We are expanding the use of national currencies; today, their share in bilateral trade is already close to 100%,” the premier said.
President Putin joined the meeting as well. Moscow and Beijing will expand bilateral cooperation across all areas, Putin said during the meeting. “Trade and economic ties are developing. We will continue expanding the scale of cooperation across all main areas,” he said, adding that the two countries cooperate in areas including energy, information technology, space, and peaceful nuclear development. “I would like to point to serious progress in supplies of agricultural products, with their turnover growing by 34% in the first eight months of this year,” Putin said. Humanitarian cooperation is strengthening, with events taking place as part of cross-years of education, he noted.
