Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who started his official visit to Russia on Monday, is scheduled to attend the 15th regular meeting between the Chinese and Russian heads of government on Tuesday.

The following are basic facts about the mechanism of regular meetings between the Chinese and Russian premiers.

In April 1996, then Chinese President Jiang Zemin and then Russian President Boris Yeltsin agreed to establish a mechanism of regular meetings between the two countries' premiers, which was officially launched by former Chinese Premier Li Peng's visit to Russia in December 1996.

The regular meeting mechanism consists of three parts -- the premiers' meeting, cultural cooperation and energy resources negotiation.

With full-scale organizations and broad areas concerned, the mechanism is of the highest standard in China's foreign relations.

The mechanism has played an important role in enhancing good-neighborly, friendly and mutually beneficial relations between the two countries, and promoting sound development of the China-Russia strategic partnership of cooperation.

Fourteen regular meetings have been held since the establishment of this mechanism. Major contents and fruits of recent regular meetings include:

On Sept. 9, 2003, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kasyanov attended the eighth meeting in Beijing. The two sides agreed that as breakthroughs had been made in the cooperation of economy and trade, bilateral cooperation in cultural fields should also be expanded.

On Sept. 9, 2004, the ninth regular meeting was held in Moscow. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov reviewed achievements made in China-Russia cooperation since the eighth regular meeting, studied measures to solve existing problems and put forward plans for future cooperation.

On Nov. 3, 2005, Wen and Fradkov held the 10th regular meeting in Beijing. The two sides signed a series of documents on strengthening cooperation in various fields and issued a joint communique of the meeting.

On Nov. 9, 2006, Wen and Fradkov participated in the 11th regular meeting and the closing ceremony of the Year of Russia in Beijing. They signed 17 documents ranging from energy cooperation to the communication of media.

On Nov. 6, 2007, the 12th regular meeting was held in Moscow. Chinese Premier Wen and then Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov signed a joint communique and attended the signing ceremony of a series of documents on furthering cooperation.

On Oct. 28, 2008, Chinese Premier Wen and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin attended the 13th regular meeting and signed a joint communique in Moscow.

On Oct. 13, 2009, Putin and Wen attended the 14th regular meeting in Beijing and signed a joint communique. During the meeting, the two sides also signed 12 cooperation agreements.