Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Russian Government House. Photo: Dmitry Astakhov/POOL/TASS
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Government House. Two weeks ago, Xi Jinping was re-elected as China’s president for an unprecedented third five-year term. The Chinese leader decided to make his first state visit after his re-election to Russia. By the way, this has already become a tradition: in March 2013, after taking office, Xi Jinping also paid his first state visit to Russia. Xi Jinping himself, when meeting with Mikhail Mishustin, called this historical logic.
“We are the biggest neighboring powers and comprehensive strategic partners,” Xi Jinping explained about his choice.
Mishustin personally received the Chinese guest at the entrance of the Government House.
First – the traditional handshake against the backdrop of national flags, then the photo ceremony. After that, the politicians went to negotiations. Mishustin noted that Russian-Chinese relations are entering a new era.
“Over the years, our relations have withstood the test of various twists and turns and have grown stronger with time,” Xi Jinping said. According to him, “the progressive development of relations with Russia is China’s strategic choice.” After that, Xi Jinping invited Mishustin to visit China as soon as possible to establish government ties, which were moved remotely due to the pandemic. Mishustin accepted the invitation.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Chinese President Xi Jinping before the talks. Photo: Dmitry Astakhov/POOL/TASS
Mishustin noted that last year, the trade turnover between Russia and China increased by almost a third, and approached $190 billion. Already this year, countries expect to reach $200 billion. Russia attaches particular importance to investment cooperation with China. The portfolio of bilateral projects being prepared by the Intergovernmental Investment Commission exceeds 165,000 million dollars. We are talking about 79 projects in different areas. Mishustin highlighted the energy association, which covers all areas of the industry: natural gas, oil and petroleum products, coal, electricity, and peaceful nuclear power. Large joint energy projects are being successfully implemented: Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG 2, the Amur Gas Chemical Plant and the gas processing complex in Ust-Luga.
– I would like to highlight cooperation in high-tech areas. We are talking about aircraft construction, mechanical engineering, machine tool construction, space research, as well as end-to-end technologies aimed at creating innovative products and providing services. The expansion of innovation cooperation will strengthen the technological sovereignty of Russia and China, Mishustin said.
The prime minister also said that Russia supports the New Land Grain Corridor project, which will ensure the supply of grains, pulses and oilseeds from Russia’s Siberian and Far Eastern regions to the Chinese market.
Another area of cooperation is transportation. According to Mishustin, Russia and China are preparing new projects that will increase traffic along the Trans-Siberian and Trans-Asian routes.
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