(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) TOKYO, May 17 (KUNA) -- Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended Friday the opening ceremony of the 8th China-Russia Expo in the Northeastern Chinese city of Harbin, with both sides highlighting close bilateral cooperation, Xinhua News Agency reported.
In his speech at the opening ceremony of the Expo, Han said that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin met in Beijing on Thursday and jointly drew a new vision and blueprint for the development of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era.
"This year marks the 75th anniversary of China-Russia diplomatic relations," Han said, noting that China and Russia have deepened political mutual trust and achieved fruitful economic and trade cooperation.
In 2023, the trade volume between China and Russia reached a record USD 240 billion, and China has been Russia's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years, according to Han. "The scale of two-way investment continues to grow, and cooperation on major projects in energy, chemical industry, aerospace and connectivity has made steady progress," said Han.
China is willing to work with Russia to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation and seize opportunities, to add impetus to the high-quality development of bilateral relations, he added.
In his speech, Putin said he had a fruitful meeting with Xi in Beijing and reached important consensus for the development of bilateral relations and the expansion of practical cooperation, according to Xinhua.
Noting that Russia cherishes the tradition of friendly cooperation with China, Putin expressed the hope that the two sides will tap the potential and actively leverage the role of the expo to push for new progress in bilateral cooperation in such fields as economy, trade, investment, energy, industry, high and new technology, cross-border transportation, tourism, agriculture and local affairs, to bring more benefits to the two peoples.
In their talks after the opening ceremony, Han said that, with the joint efforts of the two sides, bilateral cooperation will surely achieve more results, benefit the two peoples and contribute to world development and progress.
For his part, Putin called on the two sides to closely coordinate and cooperate, strengthen practical cooperation in various fields, further promote local cooperation between Russia's far east and China's northeast region, and push for better development of bilateral relations. (end)
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