Putin meets Chinese vice premier in Russia

VLADIVOSTOK, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin met here on Tuesday with Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, who was invited to attend the 8th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

Putin asked Zhang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, to convey his sincere greetings to Chinese President Xi Jinping, and thanked China for sending a high-level delegation to Russia to attend the forum.

With joint efforts of Russia and China, bilateral relations have entered the best period in history, said Putin, noting that bilateral cooperation in various fields such as economy and trade has developed smoothly, and local cooperation between the two countries is in the ascendant.

The development of the Far East has become a new growth point for cooperation between both countries, and Russia is fully confident of the prospects of bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields, Putin said.

For his part, Zhang first conveyed Xi's cordial greetings to Putin, and expressed congratulations on the convening of the 8th EEF.

Noting that the two heads of state have steered the development of bilateral relations, Zhang said that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era has maintained a high-level operation, and that cooperation in various fields has a sound momentum of development.

Xi's visit to Russia in March this year has achieved fruitful results, Zhang added.

China is willing to work with Russia to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, share development opportunities, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, strengthen coordination and synergy of regional development strategies, give full play to the role of local cooperation mechanisms between the two countries, so as to promote the continuous development of China-Russia cooperation to achieve new results, he said.

During his stay in Russia, Zhang attended the plenary session of the 8th EEF, and met with Denis Manturov, deputy prime minister and minister of industry and trade of Russia, and Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Primorye Territory. He also inspected bilateral cooperation projects built by Chinese-funded enterprises.