Chinese, Russian FMs stress cooperation and development

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R Front) shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing during their meeting in Vladivostok, east Russia, June 1, 2005.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Russia's far east city of Vladivostok on Wednesday, with the two ministers stressing further communication and cooperation to safeguard regional and world peace and stability.

During the talks, Li recalled the meeting between Chinese leader Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin on broad issues while Hu was attending the activities marking the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War on May 9 in Moscow.

The two countries need to translate into action the consensus reached by the two leaders and further strengthen mutually-beneficial cooperation in various areas, in order to develop together, the Chinese minister said.

Lavrov expressed satisfaction with the current development of relations between Russia and China. He suggested that the two countries should intensify communication and cooperation under the current complex international circumstances, so as to safeguard regional and world peace and stability.

As for the UN reforms, the two ministers agreed that special attention must be paid to developing and less powerful countries and that all UN member states should use democratic means and thoroughly negotiate, trying to reach the broadest consensus on the reform issue.

Li and Lavrov will be joined by their Indian counterpart Natwar Singh on Thursday for the fourth informal Chinese-Russian-Indian foreign ministers' meeting.

Source: Xinhua