The meeting was held via videoconference.
Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin and Premier of the State Council of China Li Keqiang discussed a range of relevant issues on the expansion of Russian-Chinese relations, comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation. Particular attention was paid to cooperation in investment, industry, energy, agriculture and transport, and the need to intensify scientific, educational, cultural and humanitarian contacts.
From the transcript:
25th regular meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government
Mikhail Mishustin: Mr Li Keqiang, my Chinese friends,
I am delighted to welcome you to the 25th meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government. We are videoconferencing this year because of the coronavirus pandemic and I know that this format does not fully meet our needs. Our bilateral agenda is too packed and requires person-to-person contact.
At the same time, even in this difficult situation, our dialogue has not been interrupted. This confirms the special and unique nature of the all-embracing partnership and strategic cooperation that links Russia and China.
For a quarter of a century, this mechanism of regular meetings has ensured the coordination of our hands-on cooperation in all areas and helped find the best solutions to the tasks we face. This opportunity to compare notes on key issues in a timely manner really makes a difference, at all levels. Today we will discuss what has been done in the past year and outline our plans for the future.
Our relationship is based on strong traditions of neighbourly interaction and mutual respect and, of course, a centuries-old common history. Last year, we marked 70 years of our diplomatic relations. In 2020, we have marked the 75th anniversary of the Victory. We celebrate together because indeed, during the Second World War, our peoples fought shoulder to shoulder against a common enemy. Now that the world is dealing with the threat of the novel coronavirus infection, we are also supporting each other – we send humanitarian aid, medical specialists, and organise the production of vaccines and modern medicines. I would like to thank our partners for their support. I believe that China's success in the fight against coronavirus deserves the highest praise.
Russia sees China not only as a longtime friend but as its largest trading partner. The People’s Republic of China accounts for about 17 percent of Russia’s foreign trade. Unfortunately, mutual trade volumes have decreased somewhat, due to the coronavirus pandemic. I am confident that, given the pace and dynamics of Russian-Chinese cooperation, we will quickly return to growth in mutual trade, all the more so as the leaders of our countries, namely, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping, have set an ambitious goal, that is, expanding mutual trade volumes to $200 billion.
We need to intensify joint efforts to overcome the negative economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. For this purpose, we need to enhance cooperation in all areas, including industry, agriculture and transport. We have to expand cooperation in the field of digitalisation and to find new promising forms and areas of cooperation.
It is necessary to expand investment interaction. Today, we are actively implementing 90 important investment projects, mostly in the area of energy, industrial production, agriculture and the infrastructure. The Russian Government is ready to provide all necessary support for their implementation.
It goes without saying that cooperation between our countries is not limited to trade and investment. We actively expand cultural and humanitarian ties, as well as inter-regional interaction. The Years of Russia-China Inter-Regional Cooperation have been held successfully. They provided a good impetus for expanding contacts at a local level. We are now holding the Years of Russia-China Science and Technological and Innovation Cooperation.
This will help expand cooperation between our countries in fundamental and applied research, state-of-the-art technologies and innovations, to broaden the scale of joint research projects and improve their efficiency. We consider the expansion of humanitarian exchanges to be particularly important. They strengthen the traditions of friendship, cooperation and neighbourliness.
I would like to congratulate you and the entire Chinese nation on the successful landing of the Chang’e 5 probe on the Moon. This is a landmark achievement of the Chinese space programme. I am convinced that Russian-Chinese cooperation in the area of space exploration will continue to develop dynamically.
And one more aspect. Our countries consider it important to expand cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and China, including efforts to merge the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union. During such cooperation, we need to start establishing a system of digital corridors between the five Union member countries and China, to create favourable conditions for introducing electronic certification in mutual trade, as regards a number of goods, and to launch dialogue on the foreign trade policies of the Eurasian Economic Union and China. All this will provide new opportunities for joint work and will make it possible to conduct mutually beneficial cooperation. Colleagues, we have a large agenda today. After introductory remarks by Mr Li Keqiang, we will discuss the most important matters that define the main areas of Russian-Chinese cooperation, we will hear reports by the co-chairs of five intergovernmental commissions, which are part of the mechanism of regular meetings between heads of government.
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