Sergei Mironov, Speaker of the Russian Federation Council, said Saturday in this coastal city of northeast China's Liaoning Province that economic and trade ties between the two countries have been "further strengthened".

At the invitation of Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), Mironov kicked off his three-day official good-will visit to China by touring Dalian as his first leg.

Addressing the Sino-Russian Forum of Regional Economic and Trade Cooperation, Mironov said the trade volume between the two countries topped 20 billion US dollars in 2004 and it is expected to grow "at a fairly high pace" this year.

While encouraging Russian and Chinese entrepreneurs to beef up their in-depth cooperation, Mironov expressed the hope that the governments of the two counties should cooperate well with regard to immigration policy, border trade, taxation, environmental protection and education.

Both parliaments should "play a still more active role" in promoting regional trade, he said.

Mironov and his entourage, who have come to China on a return visit to top legislator Wu Bangguo's trip to Russia last year, areexpected to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Wu gangguo, andPremier Wen Jiabao during their two-day stay in Beijing.

Source: Xinhua