Chinese, Russian FMs exchange ratifications of additional border agreement

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov exchanged the ratifications of an additional agreement on the eastern part of Sino-Russian border on Thursday in Vadivostok.

The two foreign ministers also signed the certifications on exchanging the ratifications of the document.

Li said signing the additional border agreement and exchanging its ratifications put the document into force and settled in legal form the more than 4,300 km-long borderline between China and Russia.

It is of great importance to the neighborly friendship and strategic cooperation between the two countries as well as to peace and stability in the region and the world as a whole, the Chinese foreign minister said.

For his part, Lavrov said the ratifications of the additional border agreement are significant documents, which he said show a thorough settlement of the Russian-Chinese borderline and conform to the fundamental interests of the two peoples.

The additional border agreement, signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China in October 2004, defines the two countries' border on two sections, which constitute less than 2 percent of the common border.

Dispute between the two countries over the borderline has been left unsettled since 1991 when the two sides signed a border treaty on the eastern part of the common border.

The Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress ratified the additional border agreement on April 27.

Putin on Wednesday signed a law on the ratification of the additional border agreement. The law was approved by the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on May 20, 2005 and passed by the Federal Council, the upper house, five days later.

Source: Xinhua