China, Russia vow to deepen youth interaction

ST. PETERSBURG, March 28 -- Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong and her Russian counterpart Olga Golodets on Friday pledged to deepen youth interaction between the two countries.

Co-hosting an organizing committee of the China-Russia Youth Year with Golodets, Liu said the Youth Year is set to cement the bilateral traditional friendship and advance the comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level.

The China-Russia Youth Year comes in 2014 as the two countries will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.

"We should plan more events that will deepen friendship and foster a sense of affinity among young people from both sides, and activities that help enhance mutual understanding should be encouraged," she said.

Liu also voiced the hope that the youth exchanges and interaction will inject new vigor into the development of bilateral ties.

Her words were echoed by Golodets, who noted that the Russia-China relations are at their historic best, and that fully-blooming people-to-people exchanges will further promote bilateral strategic partnership.

"Russia is willing to make joint efforts with China to intensify humanistic exchanges thus paving the way for President (Vladimir) Putin's state visit to China scheduled in May," said Golodets.

After the meeting, Liu and Golodets signed a plan for a series of reciprocal youth exchange activities in the coming two years, and attended the opening ceremony of the China-Russia Youth Year.

As part of the Youth Year events, a youth exchange program involving 100 schools and 10,000 students from both countries, as well as 1 million students of both sides to engage in on-line interactions, was also launched on the same day.

During his state visit to Russia in March last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin agreed to hold the China-Russia Youth Year of Friendship Exchanges in 2014 and 2015, the fourth theme program between the two sides.

Since 2006, the two countries have held reciprocal events, namely the Year of Russia in China in 2006, the Year of China in Russia in 2007, and language years in 2009 and 2010, followed by tourism years.