The upcoming Year of Russia in
China will help strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries
and Russia hopes to expand bilateral cooperation in science and technology,
culture and physical education, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on
Saturday.
Prior to a visit to China that begins tomorrow, Putin said Russia attaches
great importance to keeping a close and sincere partnership with China, noting
Russia will work vigorously to develop bilateral ties.
The Russian president lauded China's remarkable economic achievements, saying
China's technology and education have also advanced rapidly along with its
ever-increasing international reputation.
There exists broad prospects for bilateral cooperation in the fields of
humanities and information exchange, Putin noted.
"Our overall impressions of each other, to a large extent, are based on our
past experience," Putin said. "Therefore, it is highly important to let the two
peoples know better about the real life in Russia and China, about the
achievements they have been making over recent years."
The decision to launch the Year of Russia in China in 2006 and the Year of
China in Russia in 2007 will help promote bilateral ties, Putin said.
He said a series of large events over the next two years are aimed at
bringing the two peoples closer and enriching the creative cooperation with new
ideas and activities, which will be ultimately conducive to promoting the
strategic partnership between the two countries.
Russia and China should increase exchanges in science and technology,
culture, physical education, youth and tourism, he added, saying that the two
sides have already gained experiences in such cooperation and achieved some
success.
On his forthcoming visit to Beijing, Putin said he is always very happy to
meet with President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders.
Putin expressed the hope that his visit would yield new substantial fruits,
which would be conducive to vigorously developing the Russian-Chinese strategic
partnership.
During his two-day visit to China, Putin will attend the opening ceremony of
the Russian Year.
In October 2004, the two countries decided to launch the Year of Russia in
China in 2006 and the Year of China in Russia in 2007.
Russia and China have resolved all their major political problems, including
border issues, thus raising their mutual trust to a completely new level, Putin
noted.
The active development of Sino-Russian relations has convincingly shown that
being pragmatic and holding constructive dialogues is more effective than
holding grudges against each other and being endlessly entangled in disputes
left over from history, Putin said.
Both countries have carried out active cooperation on the international
arena, have closely cooperated with each other in global and regional
organizations, and have been partners in coping with terrorism and other
existing threats, he said.