Context
Russia and China on pledged to work towards closer cooperation on Tuesday. These sentiments were expressed on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to China. Both Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabo affirmed their commitment to building a comprehensive strategic partnership based on equality trust and mutual support. The two premiers stated their aim to increase trade to 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2015 and 200 billion U.S. dollars by 2020. Nine Sino-Russian agreements covering areas such as agriculture, tourism and economy were also signed during the visit. Furthermore, Beijing and Moscow have agreed to further their cooperation in the oil, natural gas, nuclear energy, coal, electric power sectors. Youth exchange will be promoted as well. The two states will also work towards solving “occasionally occurring” problems.
This is the 16th regular meeting held between the two countries’ prime ministers.
