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)
