Foreign and Military Affairs
Highlights of Wen's activities in Russia
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-25 15:59
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MOSCOW - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao continued his official visit to Russia on Wednesday. The following are highlights of his activities there.
Wen met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev here Wednesday, exchanging views on major international and regional issues of common concern and agreeing to further strengthen bilateral ties.
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Developing ties with Russia is a priority of China's foreign policies, he said, adding China is ready to constantly increase mutual political trust and support, deepen pragmatic cooperation and people-to-people and cultural exchanges with Russia, and promote the long-term, sound and steady development of its strategic partnership of coordination with Russia.
The Chinese premier said China and Russia both have entered their own key development stages.
He said the two countries should expand mutual trade and investment, carry out comprehensive high-tech cooperation, deepen bilateral cooperation in gas and oil, nuclear energy, coal, power and other fields, promote regional cooperation and enhance all-around competitiveness of the two countries.
Speaking of the latest situation on the Korean Peninsula, Wen said China has all along devoted itself to maintaining the peninsula's peace and stability, and opposed military provocations in any forms.
Under the current serious and complex circumstances, Wen said, all concerned parties should exert maximum restraint, and the international community should make more efforts conducive to easing up the tensions.
Restarting the six-party talks is an essential way to secure stability and denuclearization on the peninsula, he said.
Before meeting Medvedev, Wen attended a China-Russia business summit in Moscow, during which he said China is committed to step up its cooperation with Russia in such fields as trade, mutual investment and energy.
He noted that China will be more dedicated to deepening bilateral cooperation and enriching the partnership to a higher level.
The Chinese premier made a four-point proposal suggesting a roadmap to promote bilateral cooperation and called on the two nations to further open their markets to each other in an effort to take two-way trade to a higher level.
Wen said that China welcomes more Russian companies to establish business in China.
As for the mutual investment schemes, Wen suggested that the two sides need to reduce investment barriers and take effective measures to promote large projects and improve the quality of their mutual investment cooperation.
"China will encourage its enterprises to take an active part in Russia's economy in fields such as infrastructure, power network reconstruction and high-speed railway," Wen said.
He noted that China supports its financial institutions in launching investment projects in foreign countries such as Russia.
Wen also called on the two countries to intensify their cooperation on technology and innovation, indicating that the two share common interests in such fields as space science, nuclear power and bioengineering.
Chinese and Russian scientists should work closer to promote cutting-edge technological initiatives and develop innovation programs as a marketing approach in the third country, Wen proposed.
On his fourth point, Wen suggested the two nations improve the level of trade and technology and investment cooperation in their bordering area, which is, in his words, "a strategic key point" of the bilateral economic cooperation.
As China and Russia share a 4,300-km common border, the two sides could tap a huge potential to step up economic cooperation, Wen said.
He urged the two sides to further boost border trade in various forms, regulate customs clearance and optimize utilization of cross-border water resources.
China is keen to share its experience in the successful development of the special economic zone and is willing to jointly construct and manage pilot projects in a Russian special economic zone, Wen added.
Prior to his keynote speech, Wen also presented awards to Russian individuals who have made significant contributions to China-Russia energy cooperation, especially those working on the China-Russia oil pipeline.
Also on Wednesday, Wen met with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin here, expressing hope that Moscow could create favorable conditions for Chinese companies to establish businesses.
"Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and I both agreed to tap the huge potential of cooperation between the two nations at local level," Wen told Sobyanin, acknowledging the good cooperation on trade, education and culture established between Beijing and Moscow.
"I hope the two capital cities could continue to play a leading role to promote China-Russia cooperation," Wen said.
Wen arrived in St. Petersburg on Monday to pay an official visit to Russia. In St. Petersburg, he held talks with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and attended the signing ceremony of a dozen of bilateral cooperation agreements.
Later on Wednesday, Wen flew to Dushanbe for an official visit to Tajikistan and the ninth prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
