Official website of the President of Russia

Документ   /

President of China Xi Jinping (retranslated): Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to meet with you, my old friend Vladimir Putin, in Tashkent. I am looking forward to a meeting with you in China after the Tashkent summit.

This year marks the 15^th anniversary of the signing of our basic treaty, as well as the 20^th anniversary of the establishment of our relations of partnership and strategic cooperation. These are important landmarks in the development of our relations, so your visit is of special importance.

I am willing, in conjunction with you, to strengthen high-level planning and strategic guidance of Chinese-Russian relations, promote the idea of eternal friendship, consolidate our political and strategic trust, strengthen mutual support, link our countries’ development strategies, dovetail One Belt, One Road initiative with the EAEU, and promote closer cooperation and interaction on current international and regional issues.

Today, I propose that we exchange views on bilateral issues, as well as other issues of mutual interest.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: President Xi Jinping, colleagues,

Let me express my satisfaction with today’s meeting.

Indeed, I am going to visit Beijing where we will discuss in detail all our bilateral issues. However, today we also have an opportunity to talk about the development of the  Background information Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and some other aspects of our joint efforts.

In the beginning of our meeting I would like to express to you and all the Chinese people my condolences over the death of many people in Jiangsu Province resulting from a tornado and hail. You have just told me about this. We are sorry to hear this and wish to convey our sincere condolences.

In turn, I would like to thank you for the words of sympathy that you sent us on the death of children in the northwest of the Russian Federation. We always feel very concerned when such accidents occur. I know that the Chinese people will certainly overcome this misfortune and we express our deep condolences to the families of all victims once again.

Returning to business, I would like to note that we are attaching much importance to the development of relations in a multilateral format, including the SCO, the 15^th anniversary of which we are marking now. Many documents have been prepared for this occasion. One of the most important events of this summit will be the adoption of commitments by India and Pakistan as regards their full-fledged incorporation in our organisation. I suggest talking about this event and the SCO development in general.

Naturally, we have many bilateral issues. Our colleagues from the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are also in attendance. We can talk today about a broad range of issues of our cooperation.

Thank you very much.

<…>