Sino-Russian strategic partnership conducive to world affairs

Russia-China strategic cooperative partnership has brought real benefits to the two countries and peoples and has also cast positive influence on the development of the international affairs. This is learned from Zhou Li, head of the division for Europe and Asia under China's Foreign Ministry when he was exchanging views with net browsers at the Strong China Forum of People.com.cn on October 12.

Zhou Li said, over the past decade, with the care and encouragement by the summits of the two countries, Sino-Russian relations have continually made steps upward from regarding each other as friends and establishing constructive partnership, to establishing strategic cooperative partnership. In July 2001, the top leaders of the two countries signed "Treaty for Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation", which set the peaceful idea "to be friendly generation after generation and not to be enemies forever". The treaty injected new impetus to the development of the bilateral ties and laid a solid foundation for safeguarding the long-term and stable development of the relations.

He said, currently, China and Russia are having close summit exchanges and forming various mechanisms. Bilateral political mutual trust is constantly deepening; economic, trade, scientific and technological, humanist cooperations are gradually expanding; consultation on and collaboration in international affairs are fruitful. Practices prove that Sino-Russian strategic cooperative partnership has brought real benefits to the two countries and peoples and positively influenced the international situation.

Talking about the economic and trade ties, Zhou said that the bilateral trade volume can outdo the goal of the US$20 billion as set by the top leaders of the two countries.

China is Russia's biggest neighbor and vice versa. China has huge market, a great many of front-runner enterprises, advanced technologies and constantly growing investing competence. Russia boasts rich natural resources, robust industrial technological foundation and quality human resources. The two sides have much potential in mutual complementation and cooperation. Particularly, in recent years, the economic and trade cooperation has entered a period of fast development.

Trade figures in recent years are: eight billion US dollars in 2000, 12 billion in 2001 and 15.76 billion in 2003. The statistics till August stood at US$ 12.8 billion. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that the goal of the 20 billion US dollars can be realized by the end of this year, said Zhou.

The numbers above indicate that the past five years' trade has been witnessing an average annual growth rate of 20 percent. With such a rate to be maintained, it is very possible for the trade volume to reach 60 to 80 billion US dollars in 2010.

China is the fourth largest trade partner of Russia and Russia China's eighth largest. With close economic and trade ties, the main task of the two sides is to continue expanding the trade scale and meanwhile enhance the quality of cooperation: to put priority in major projects in energy resources, to substantiate cooperation in high-tech, to expand investment to each other, to regularize trade order, to improve trade structure and service system, and last but not least, to gradually conduct closer and more beneficial cooperation according to WTO and international practices.

If we can succeed in these fields, it will be more optimistic for the goal of 60 to 80 US dollars to be realized several years later.

By People's Daily Online