China and Russia issued a joint communique in Biejing on Friday, pledging to further deepen cooperation of mutual benefit in various fields.
The communique was signed at the 10th regular meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov amid Fradkov's official visit to China from Nov. 2 to 4.
During Fradkov's stay in China, Wen held talks with him, and Chinese President Hu Jintao and top legislator Wu Bangguo met with him separately.
During the meeting between Hu and Fradkov, both sides had an in-depth exchange of views on deepening of Sino-Russian strategic cooperation, strengthening of cooperation in politics, economy, trade, energy, science, technology and culture, bilateral relations and other international and regional issues of common concern, according to the communique.
The two prime ministers spoke highly of the significant role the mechanism of regular meetings has been playing in promoting "practical" bilateral cooperation in various fields over the past decade.
They also carefully reviewed the implementation of the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, approved by the heads of state of the two countries last year, and expressed satisfaction with the progress scored in the fields of economy, trade and culture ever since the ninth regular meeting between the two prime ministers on Sept. 24, 2004.
The two sides are pleased to see that the Sino-Russian strategic partnership has been forging healthily ahead with content being enriched gradually. Political mutual trust has been strengthening steadily, and cooperation in various fields has expanded and deepened steadily. All this has produced fruitful results and brought significant benefits to the two peoples and also made great contributions to world peace and stability, the communique says.
The two prime minister signed 11 documents at the 10th regular meeting, including the communique itself, the Summary of Minutes for the Ninth Meeting of the Commission for Chinese and Russian Prime Ministers and other memorandums and agreements.
Both sides reiterated to well handle the demarcation work in the remaining section along the eastern border in an effort to build up a friendly nexus for the two peoples along the border areas, according to the communique.
The two sides have agreed to promote bilateral economic and trade ties, the communique says.
To realize the target of scoring a dual-track trade volume of 60-80 billion dollars by 2010 and making China's investment in Russia hit 12 billion dollars by 2020, both sides agreed to increase the ratio of electric and mechanical, new and high-tech products in bilateral trade, continue to streamline Sino-Russian trade and protect the legitimate rights of law-abiding businessmen.
The two countries believe that energy cooperation is "significantly important", and are supportive to Chinese and Russian companies for their work to lay out and build an oil pipeline from Russia to China.
The two sides encourage Chinese and Russian oil companies to carry out cooperation in various forms, including launching joint ventures so as to achieve substantial development in oil prospecting and processing. They also hail the possibility of joining hands to develop oil and gas in China, Russia and a third country.
The two sides agreed to ensure steady oil supply to China by rail, promising annual supply of at least 15 million tons of oil as of 2006.
According to the communique, both countries will promote gas cooperation and step up the study and implementation of the gas transmission project from eastern Siberia and the Far East to China.
Both sides noted that the long-term agreement signed between China's State Power Group and the Unified Energy System of Russia on July 1, 2005 was "fairly important" since the agreement has expanded bilateral cooperation in the power sector.
According to the communique, the two countries will strengthen cooperation in such fields as the peaceful use of nuclear energy, basic science, front-line applied science, technologies and techniques; deepening long-term partnership in space, transportation, development of forest resources and environmental protection; give attention to big joint space projects and study the possibility of carrying out cooperation in the exploration of the moon and deep space.
The two sides are pleased to see the completion of two international fiber cable projects and the steady progress of cooperation between the banks in the two countries.
The two sides have also pledged to strengthen cooperation in cracking down on terrorists, extremists, separatists, and criminal activities involving transnational organized crime and the illegal trafficking of arms, drug crimes, organized illegal migration and grave cases of economic offense, and cooperation in protecting the legitimate rights of citizens in the two countries as well.
The two countries hope to set up an effective mechanism for supervising drugs in the region and continue the work of building "drug-free zones" so as to greatly curb drug smuggling from Afghanistan and the illegal shipment of precursors to China and Russia.
China and Russia issued a joint statement on international order in the 21st century in July this year. The two prime ministers stressed the statement is of great significance for pushing forward multi-polarization and promoting democratization in international relations and in the formation of a just and rational international order.
The two countries will strengthen strategic cooperation in international affairs and make efforts to promote world peace, stability and development.
The two parties denounce terrorism in all forms and are committed to strengthening cooperation in cracking down on terrorism.
According to the communique, China and Russia are firmly opposed to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. They hold that all parties concerned should make efforts to bring about an earlier peaceful solution to nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.
The communique says that the 10th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian prime ministers was held in a "particularly friendly and cooperative atmosphere of mutual understanding” and has produced tangible achievements. The two sides are satisfied with the result, the communique says.
The two sides also agreed to hold the 11th regular meeting between the two prime ministers in 2006, but the specific date will be subject to diplomatic channels.
(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2005)
