Russian President Boris Yeltsin on Monday welcomed the return of Macao to China, saying the event marks a major milestone in China's ultimate reunification.

In a written interview with Xinhua, Yeltsin said Macao, now a special administrative region of China, will usher in a new epoch of progress, as has been demonstrated by the vigorous development witnessed in Hong Kong after its return to China in 1997.

Yeltsin expressed profound satisfaction with his recent visit to Beijing and the second informal summit with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

The summit represented a major step in deepening the substantial cooperation between the two countries, he said, noting the major development in bilateral relations, especially the final solution to the delimitation of their common borders.

The leaders of both countries reiterated their resolve to work together to establish a multi-polar world order and their opposition to the imposition of a unipolar system on the international community, Yeltsin said.

He said Russia and China should expand their cooperation to ensure the world's strategic stability, an area where the two countries share the same stand.

Yeltsin said he and President Jiang both believe the role of the United Nations and the UN Security Council should not be weakened and that it is of paramount importance to prevent attempts that defy the widely accepted norms of international law.

He said the two countries would work together in the defense of their common stand on pressing international problems and in fighting international terrorism, separatism and other forms of extremism.

Yeltsin again stressed Moscow's appreciation of China's full support for Russian actions in Chechnya.

He said the outcome of the Beijing summit indicated that the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership of equality and trust has practically taken shape.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit Beijing in the first half of the next year to discuss a wide range of issues in bilateral economic cooperation with the Chinese side, Yeltsin said. (Xinhua)