Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan pledged on Wednesday to expand cooperation and enhance people-to-people contact in a bid to further bilateral ties.

The two mayors hailed traditional friendship and existing cooperative relations between the two sister cities, as well as the "Week of Moscow" and "Week of Beijing" theme events.

The "Week of Beijing" will start in Moscow this week and the reciprocal "Week of Moscow" was held in Beijing last year, as part of the "Year of Russia" in China.

The theme events will involve exhibitions on Beijing Olympics, trade and economic programs, tourism projects and cultural performance as well.

The Moscow City Duma confirmed a fifth term for Luzhkov as the mayor of Moscow on Wednesday, keeping the 70-year-old man in the post since 1992. 　

(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2007)