Russia's Putin to visit China, boosting links
( 2002-04-26 09:41 ) (7 )

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China later this year as part of a series of meetings with his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin that will boost cooperation between the two countries, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Thursday.

"Before the end of the year, President Putin will make a visit to China. The date has still to be decided," Ivanov said after talks in Moscow with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan.

Putin and Jiang are also to meet in June, at a summit in Saint Petersburg of leaders from the six member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), and in October at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Ivanov added.

"I am sure this will give extra impetus to the development of relations between our two countries," the Russian foreign minister said.

Ivanov said Russia and China placed great importance on the SCO, and envisage "setting up anti-terrorist structures" within its framework, adding that the body "will play an important role in safeguarding regional stability."

Tang Jiaxuan said that the SCO "was the first organisation among all international bodies to respond with an initiative to fight the evil of terrorism" in the wake of last September's terrorist attacks on the United States.

A foreign ministers' meeting of the SCO, which comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, was due to be held in Moscow on Friday.

The Shanghai group was formally established in June 2000, when Uzbekistan joined the existing "Shanghai Five" which had met annually since 1996.