Chinese Premier Meets Russian Upper House Speaker


Chinese Premier Meets Russian Upper House Speaker
Visiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji met Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Yegor Stroyev Monday, discussing strengthening of bilateral trade and economic cooperation and exchanges between the two countries' parliaments.

At the meeting, Zhu told Stroyev that he was very pleased to see the fast growth of Russian's economy and the improvement of Russian people's life in recent years, while China has also kept a high economic growth rate of over 7 percent, against the backdrop of global economic slow-down.

The economic growth of both countries has created favorable conditions for expanding bilateral friendship and cooperation, he added.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, signed the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in July this year, which has laid a solid foundation for the development of bilateral ties.

China and Russia, as two major countries in the world and permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations, have strong and active impact on the world through their vigorous cooperation, Zhu said.

China is ready to do its utmost to push forward mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia in all fields, as such friendly and cooperative relations conform to the basic interests of the two peoples and bring benefits to mankind, Zhu said.

The contact between the two countries' parliaments is an important part of the Sino-Russian relationship, the premier said. The two legislatures have done a lot to boost their mutually beneficial and friendly cooperation, he said.

Stroyev, for his part, said that both law-making bodies are working to promote Russia-China friendship and cooperation. The Russian parliament will ratify the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation as soon as possible, as the treaty ensures lasting and stable development of the strategic partnership of cooperation between the countries, he emphasized.

Russia, which is eager to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in the spheres of trade and economy, is confident that such cooperation will bring the two peoples more benefits and will accelerate the development and prosperity of the world, Stroyev said.






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