Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping express willingness to expand areas of cooperation between Russia and China

On Tuesday, 21 March, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held official talks in the Kremlin. During the meeting, the two leaders discussed cooperation between Russia and China in various fields and summed up the results of the last year's cooperation.

Xi said that the coverage of areas of cooperation between the PRC and Russia is constantly expanding, and the results are growing. His words were confirmed by Putin's statement on increasing bilateral trade.

"The trade turnover in 2022 reached an historical record of $185 billion. This year Russia and China are expected not only to reach trade volume of $200 billion, as we agreed with our friends earlier, but also to surpass that frontier"

Vladimir Putin President of Russia

The Head of State also added that he expects Russian food supplies to grow on the Chinese market. According to Putin, Russia's relevant ministries "are working to ensure quality standards of the products supplied". In the investment sphere the partnership relations between Russia and China have also reached a new level - a large-scale package of 80 important bilateral projects in various sectors amounting to approximately 165 billion US dollars has been formed.

For his part, Xi mentioned that Russia-China relations demonstrate a sustained dynamic of development.

"Political mutual trust is deepening between our countries (Russia and China), common interests are multiplying, peoples are getting closer, and cooperation is developing steadily in the trade, economic, investment, energy, cultural, humanitarian and interregional dimensions" 

Xi Jinping President of China

Putin and Xi also discussed cooperation in network security and Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to the Russian president, Russia and China can become world leaders in this field thanks to their rich scientific potential.

Putin also supported the development of sports ties between Russia and China and the establishment of a sports association within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The two sides also discussed topical issues in energy cooperation. Putin said that Russian business could satisfy the growing demand of the Chinese economy for energy resources, as reported by TASS.

At the invitation of the Russian president, Xi arrived in Moscow on Monday afternoon on a three-day state visit. On arrival, the Chinese president met with the Russian president at the Kremlin, where they exchanged views on bilateral relations.

The Chinese leader also met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Tuesday and called for continuous regular meetings between the Russian Prime Minister and the Chinese Prime Minister.

According to experts, the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Russia has a great symbolic value in today's international situation.

Photo: flickr.com