The meeting focused on key aspects of Russian-Chinese cooperation in trade, the economy, investment, energy, inter-regional and border projects, as well as humanitarian cooperation.
Dmitry Medvedev’s conversation with Premier of the State Council of China Li Keqiang
Dmitry Medvedev’s remarks at the 21st regular meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government
Dmitry Medvedev’s conversation with Premier of the State Council of China Li Keqiang
Excerpts from the transcript:
Dmitry Medvedev's meeting with Premier of the State Council of China Li Keqiang
Dmitry Medvedev's meeting with Premier of the State Council of China Li Keqiang
The 21st regular meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government
The 21st regular meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government
Signing documents following the 21st regular meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government
News conference by Dmitry Medvedev and Li Keqiang
Closing review ceremony of the joint project Ten Masterpieces of Chinese Literature in Russia and Ten Masterpieces of Russian Literature in China
Closing review ceremony of the joint project Ten Masterpieces of Chinese Literature in Russia and Ten Masterpieces of Russian Literature in China
A visit to the State Hermitage Museum
A visit to the State Hermitage Museum
A visit to the State Hermitage Museum
A visit to the State Hermitage Museum
Dmitry Medvedev's meeting with Premier of the State Council of China Li Keqiang
Dmitry Medvedev: Russia and China are bound by strategic partnership and cooperation. We are truly friends. We share a common approach to many global issues, take part in multilateral meetings, including such important platforms as the UN, G20, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS, and implement large projects, including the alignment of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Silk Road Economic Belt.
Li Keqiang (via interpreter): China and Russia are large neighbouring countries and all-round strategic partners. Regular meetings of Russian and Chinese heads of government have never been discontinued in the past 21 years and are always held according to a schedule. It proves the stable and rapid development of China-Russia relations. In international affairs, we also maintain contact and coordinate with each other. As permanent members of the UN Security Council, we together defend the United Nations Charter and support stability and peace in the region.
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Dmitry Medvedev’s remarks at the 21st regular meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government
Excerpts from the transcript:
The 21st regular meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government
These regular meetings between the Russian and Chinese heads of government are really quite original in the sense that we have no such mechanism in place with any other country. They fulfil the very important function of giving concrete substance to our relations and offer us the opportunity to discuss promising projects as part of our comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation. This work always includes reports from our government colleagues and from the four intergovernmental commissions.
We have decided to establish a fifth intergovernmental commission that will be responsible for cooperation in the Russian Far East and northeast China. This is evidence of just what extent our practical cooperation has.
The global economic situation is far from straightforward today, and this has affected our bilateral balance too, though it has improved this year.
We have prepared a large package of documents that reflect the current state of relations in our partnership and signal new stages in developing the trade, economic, social and humanitarian ties between our countries.
At the conclusion of the 21st regular meeting of the Russian and Chinese heads of government, the following documents were signed:
Signing documents following the 21st regular meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government
- Joint communiqué of the 21st regular meeting of the Russian and Chinese heads of government
Signed by: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang
- Joint statement by the Russian and Chinese governments on the results of the first joint inspection of the Russian-Chinese state border
Signed by: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang
- Joint statement by the Russian and Chinese heads of government on the development of strategic cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear power
Signed by: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang
- Protocol of the 20th meeting of the Russian-Chinese Commission for the Preparation of Regular Heads of Government Meetings
Signed by: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Wang Yang
- Protocol of the 17th meeting of the Russian-Chinese Commission for Humanitarian Cooperation
Signed by: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets and Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Liu Yandong
- Protocol to the Agreement between the Russian Government and the Government of the People Republic of China on the Creation and Organisational Principles of the Mechanism of Regular Heads of Government Meetings of 27 June 1997
Signed by: Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev and Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Wang Yang
- Protocol between the Russian Government and the PRC Government on the Results of the First Joint Inspection of the Russian-Chinese State Border
Signed by: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
- Protocol on Introducing Amendments to an Additional Protocol to the Agreement between the Russian Government and the Government of the People Republic of China on the Creation and Organisational Principles of the Mechanism of Regular Heads of Government Meetings of 27 June 1997
Signed by: Head of Federal Archive Agency Andrei Artizov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
- Memorandum between the Federal Customs Service (Russia) and the Chinese Chief Customs Directorate of Cooperation in Combating Violations of Customs Procedure
Singed by: Federal Customs Service Head Vladimir Bulavin and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
- Memorandum of Understanding Between the Russian Economic Development Ministry, the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the People's Government of Heilongjiang Province on the Fourth Russian-Chinese EXPO
Signed by: Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexei Gruzdev, and Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng
- Protocol on Introducing Amendments to the Memorandum of Understanding Between the Russian Economic Development Ministry and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Cooperation in the Small and Medium-Sized Business Sector of 6 November 2007
Signed by: Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexei Gruzdev and Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng
- Memorandum of Understanding Between the Russian Ministry of Science and Education and the Chinese Education Ministry on Cooperation on the Project to Establish the Moscow Institute of Arts at the Weinan Normal University
Signed by: Russian First Deputy Minister of Science and Education Natalya Tretyak and Chinese Vice Minister of Education Hao Ping
- General Agreement on Cooperation in the Construction of an Industrial Complex in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic
Signed by: Kabardino-Balkarian Republic Head Yury Kokov and China Kunlun Contracting and Engineering Corporation CEO Zhou Huatang
- Cooperation Agreement between Russian Railways and Yingkou Port Group Co., Ltd
Signed by: Russian Railways President Oleg Belozyorov and Yingkou Port Group Co., Ltd President Li Hezhong
- Agreement Between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation on Cooperation in the Mutual Recognition of Standards and Conformity Assessment Results
- Memorandum Between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation on Studying Opportunities for Cooperation on Gas Motor Fuel
Signed by: Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Vice President of China National Petroleum Corporation Xu Wenrong
- Memorandum of Understanding Between Gazprom and China Development Bank on Possible Financing Projects
Signed by: Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and China Development Bank President Zheng Zhijie
- Agreement on Trade Financing in Yuan between VTB Bank and China Development Bank for a three-year term
- Agreement on Trade Financing in Yuan between VTB Bank and China Development Bank for a five-year term
Signed by: VTB Bank President and Chairman Andrei Kostin and China Development Bank President Zheng Zhijie
- Framework Agreement Between Vnesheconombank State Corporation and China Development Bank
Signed by: Vnesheconombank Chairman Sergei Gorkov and China Development Bank President Zheng Zhijie
- Agreement Between Rosneft and Beijing Gas Group on Cooperation in the Gas Sector, including the acquisition of a 20 percent stake in Verkhnechonskneftegaz
Signed by: Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and Beijing Gas Group President Li Yalan
- Memorandum of Understanding Between the Glonass Non-commercial Partnership and China North Industries Corporation on a Project to Develop a Russian-Chinese Chipset
Signed by: Glonass Executive Director Alexander Bondarenko and China North Industries Corporation President Wen Gang
- Framework Agreement on the Sale of a Stake in Sibur Holding to the Chinese Silk Road Fund and China Development Bank International Holdings Ltd.
Signed by: Sibur Holding CEO Leonid Mikhelson, Silk Road Fund President Wang Yanzhi and China Development Bank International Holdings Ltd. Director General Meng Tianshan
News conference with Dmitry Medvedev and Li Keqiang following the 21st regular meeting of the Russian and Chinese heads of government
Excerpts from the transcript:
News conference by Dmitry Medvedev and Li Keqiang
Dmitry Medvedev: We have discussed practically all key issues of economic, investment and social cooperation between our countries.
I think that the format of regular meetings of the Russian and Chinese heads of government has established a good track record.
The balance of trade looks relatively good despite a certain decline in the past year. This year, bilateral trade has already exceeded $40 billion.
We will step up our efforts to gradually reach the target figures outlined several years ago – $200 billion in trade in the next three to seven years.
China remains our biggest trade partner.
We agreed to take a number of practical steps in the bilateral format and as regards our integration initiatives. I am referring to drawing the Eurasian Economic Union and the Silk Road Economic Belt closer together.
In the longer term, there are other areas of integration, including the possibility of a preferential trade regime.
We have focused on over 60 large and extremely large investment projects, including the Power of Siberia pipeline, a LNG plant on Yamal, and preparation for construction of new nuclear power units and a high-speed network. These mega projects run into billions and even dozens of billions of US dollars. We also agreed to create a new format for joint measures to support small and medium business and make additional efforts to boost cooperation in agriculture.
We consider very important to increase the role of national currencies in bilateral trade. Today the yuan has already become a reserve currency, which opens up more opportunities for our currency positions and the issue of instruments that would be denominated in yuans, with preserving transactions in roubles or in both currencies. The latter’s share may be also growing.
Russian-Chinese cooperation also includes an enormous number of diverse humanitarian and social projects where we have made significant progress in the past decade.
Li Keqiang: Regular meetings of the heads of government have already been held for 20 years without a single interruption. This shows that Chinese-Russian relations are dynamically and consistently moving ahead.
China and Russia are major neighbouring countries and permanent members of the UN Security Council. We observe the UN Charter. We have always considered each other’s development as a unique opportunity for progress and our cooperation.
We must make a new breakthrough in our cooperation and uncover new potential.
We understand that we have prospects for humanitarian cooperation in the Russian Far East as well.
We achieved practical results during this regular meeting.
Dmitry Medvedev: The Far East is important for our cooperation for obvious reasons as an area where the interests of many countries overlap. For us it is extremely important to develop its infrastructure. Recently we have adopted large programmes for the development of the Far East and its social sphere. China is one of the largest potential investors in different areas of the Far East.
We adopted a special law on priority development areas, which give many advantages to investors if they provide long-term funding to projects on the territory of a particular region.
Chinese investors have already displayed much interest in the Far East. Projects for this area cover a wide range, starting with agriculture and ending with high-tech production facilities. The total amount of contracted investment in the Far East exceeds a trillion roubles. Investors from the People’s Republic of China made a fairly substantial contribution to this sum.
The formation of new trade platforms both in the West and the East, like the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) or the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) marks a significant departure from the concepts of the World Trade Organisation, resulting in a certain degree of fragmentation in international trade.
If we agree to further integrate our economies we should think of how this would affect not only our economies but also the situation in the world.
In 2015 we decided to link two concepts – the approach underlying the Eurasian Economic Union and the One Belt, One Road concept of the People’s Republic of China. At present we are blending these ideas at the scale of our economies. It is necessary to display caution in this respect, especially when it comes to changes in tariff policy, for instance repealing tariffs in many cases. We do not rule out that this may lead to the formation of a trade area and preferential regimes. As we make these decisions, it is necessary to consider all sensitive issues and potential problems. We will monitor future developments but our countries are fully committed to following this road.
We believe this idea has a bright future.
