The "Year of China" in Russia has been widely hailed since it opened on Tuesday and has drawn attention not only in Russia but across the world.

The theme year, brought under the international media spotlight as a result of President Hu Jintao's visit, continued with the staging of the Chinese National Exhibition - the biggest comprehensive show China has held abroad in almost three decades.

"The Chinese National Exhibition shows that it (China) has now recorded a much faster economic growth than the United States," said former Prime Minister Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov.?

Contracts worth $4.3 billion were signed by Chinese and Russian enterprises after the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

The show, one of about 200 events to be held this year to mark the "Year of China in Russia," occupies a huge hall with more than 20,000 square meters of floor space and showcases some 15,000 products from 30 industries such as energy, machinery, automobiles and home appliances.

Russian TV stations, newspapers and websites broadcasted live or made the opening ceremony of the theme year and the exhibition their lead stories, and highlighted China's achievements in aviation, ship-building, information technology and other sectors.

The Commersant and Rossiskaya Gazeta newspapers both published special issues for the theme year, introducing to their readers an overall view of China.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said the theme year "will be accompanied by interesting, unique and informative events for Russians."

(China Daily March 29, 2007)