Official website of the President of Russia

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President Putin: Good day, dear colleagues,

Allow me to wish you a warm welcome to Moscow. It is very pleasing for me to meet with you once more, we saw each other quite recently, and I am pleased to note that plans are being realised for launching bilateral contacts in the security sphere. Relations between us are developing very intensively in the political and economic spheres, in the security sphere, and in military cooperation.

This year extensive joint military training exercises are planned for the first time in many years. Of course, consultations in the security sphere at the political level is the basis of our relations in this sphere.

The central event in our relations this year will be the visit by Mr Hu Jintao to Russia. We are expecting him to visit for the 60th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Please pass on my very best wishes to Chairman Hu Jintao.

Tan Jiaxuan: It is very pleasing for me at the very beginning of 2005 to have the honour to meet with you once again, your Excellency, here in Moscow.

First of all I would like to pass on warm greetings and the very best wishes from Chairman Hu Jintao.

This morning I held very good talks with my old close friend, Mr. Ivanov, on creating and launching a mechanism of Chinese-Russian consultations. Both sides confirmed that this mechanism would be launched. We also exchanged opinions on the contents and format of the functioning of this mechanism.

As you know, Mr President, this is the first time that China has created an intergovernmental mechanism of consultations on issues of national security with other countries. If we have made the decision to create this mechanism with Russia, this is because that we have close positions on international issues, on the international situation, on major international and regional issues, including supporting peace and assisting general development in the world. We have common strategic interests in these issues.

Relations between China and Russia are relations of strategic partnership and cooperation. For China, Russia is the main partner of strategic cooperation.

In strengthening our strategic cooperation, we must accentuate the importance of these relations becoming long-term, stable and universal, put emphasis on our own efforts, and move with the flow of the times.