Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Moscow, March 11, 2016

Mr Minister, dear friend,

We are pleased to see you and your delegation at the Russian Foreign Ministry. Our foreign policy’s priority task is to deepen comprehensive cooperation and strategic partnership with China. We are engaged in strenuous efforts to step up our strategic partnership and interaction. These efforts are in line with the fundamental interests of our peoples and we have to take this into account in our practical actions. Last year, our heads of state met five times, taking important decisions to promote our practical cooperation. We expect the political dialogue to be no less intensive this year.

Regardless of the unfavourable situation in the global economy, China remains our key trade and economic partner. Both our countries realise the need to further improve the quality of our economic cooperation.

We appreciate the on-going intensive humanitarian exchange between our countries and expect the new major intergovernmental project, the Years of Russian and Chinese Media (2016-2017), to provide substantial results for citizens of both countries.

Our international interaction has become an increasingly important factor for global politics. Our countries have shown an example of how important a weighted and pragmatic approach can be to resolving many problems using international law as a basis, mainly the UN Charter. It is based on these principles that our countries have closely coordinated their actions within the UN framework, including its Security Council, the SCO, the G20, BRICS, APEC, EAS, and within other formats. The annual plans of our consultations describe all these areas in detail. Today, we will sign another plan for this year at the end of our talks.

Welcome again! I’m very pleased to see you.