Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged new year's greetings on Saturday, and congratulated the start of "the Year of Russia" in China.

In his message of greetings, President Hu said China will launch "the Year of Russia" in 2006 and Russia will hold "the Year of China" in 2007. As a pioneering project, these activities will greatly stimulate the comprehensive development of Sino-Russian relations, Hu said.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the upcoming "Year of Russia". "We will cooperate closely with our Russian counterparts, make careful preparations and spare no efforts in implementing the program, so as to ensure the event becomes a complete success," the president said.

In his message, President Hu said that China and Russia are one another's largest neighbors, and it is their common choice to achieve good neighborliness.

As strategic partners, cooperation and development are the common tasks of the two countries, Hu said.

Both being permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and Russia share joint responsibilities to maintain peace and stability in the region and the world at large, the Chinese leader noted.

In recent years, following the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, China and Russia have gained significant achievements in enhancing political mutual trust, strategic cooperation and traditional friendship, President Hu said.

He hoped the two countries would continue to join hands in the new year, to further strengthen bilateral exchanges and cooperation, so as to push the neighborly friendship and strategic cooperation between the two countries to a new level.

In his congratulatory message, Russian President Putin said that in the past 2005, the increasing mutual trust and rapid development of cultural and economic cooperation of the two nations reached a new high.

He pointed out that Sino-Russian strategic cooperative partnership has played an important role in keeping global peace and security, and helping to build an equitable multipolar world.

As the first guideline for the two countries to cooperate in various fields, the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation is being implemented smoothly, the president said.

He said "the Year of Russia" in China and "the Year of China" in Russia are part of the efforts to further strengthen the two sides' strategic cooperative partnership on the basis of mutual respect and trust.

The Russian president also expressed his belief that "the Year of Russia" in China will provide new opportunities for both countries to further expand bilateral cooperation, and benefit peoples of the two countries.

Source: Xinhua