China and Russia are to enhance cooperation in Russia's far eastern area, visiting Chinese State Councilor Hua Jianmin said when meeting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov and Russian presidential aide Viktor Ivanov in Moscow Tuesday.

During their meeting in the Kremlin, Hua said that the two countries "build up mutual trust in the political sphere and intensify strategic cooperation in many fields," and "President Vladimir Putin's successful visit in Beijing promoted the relationship between the two countries."

"China has made the strategy of exploiting the west of China and revitalizing the country's northeast industrial region, which borders on Russia's far east area. Meanwhile, Russia is developing its Siberian and far eastern region, which makes great opportunity for the economical cooperation between the two countries," Hua said.

Zhukov said that the year 2006 is a special year in Russian- Chinese relations, as China celebrates the Year of Russia this year.

Both bilateral political contacts and economic relations have become "unusually intensive" in 2006, Zhukov said.

On Monday Ivanov and Hua opened the conference "Effective state and its role in the development of Russian-Chinese cooperation" that is held at the Russian State Service Academy. The conference was the first among 260 events scheduled during Russia's Year in China.

Hua is paying an official visit to Russia, the last leg of his three-nation tour which has taken him to Egypt and Turkey.

Source: Xinhua