Wen's visit to further enhance China-Russia ties

MOSCOW - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's upcoming visit to Russia will further promote the development of China-Russia relations, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui said Friday.

The trip will deepen mutual trust, enhance pragmatic cooperation in all fields, and consolidate the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, Li said in a joint interview with Russian and Chinese media here.

During his trip, Wen will attend the 17th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian prime ministers in Moscow, and will also meet with President Vladimir Putin and hold talks with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev respectively, Li said.

The two sides look forward to pushing forward bilateral cooperation in politics, economy and trade, technology, energy and people-to-people exchanges and delving into global and regional issues of common concern, said the ambassador.

During the visit, Li said, the two sides will ink a series of documents, including a joint communique.

"The visit will make substantial achievements and benefit the two countries and the two peoples," Li added.

Calling it "unique among China-foreign relations and rare in relations between major powers," Li said the well-designed mechanism of regular high-level meetings between China and Russia helps ensure the sound development of bilateral ties.

Both as each other's largest neighbor and as major political and economic powers in the world, China and Russia need each other in their own development, Li said.

"A stable, friendly and prosperous relationship between China and Russia is also needed for the development of the entire world, " Li said, adding that the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination will reach new heights in the future.

Meanwhile, Li highlighted the huge accomplishments reached in environmental protection and green economy cooperation between the two sides, citing the progress in, among others, energy efficiency, pollution prevention, cross-border water quality detection and bio-diversity.

Eco-tourism and "green project" investment will serve as stimulus of economic and trade cooperation, while the cooperation potential is huge in such fields as low-carbon technology, energy-efficient products, ecological projects and environmental protection programs, Li said.

With joint efforts, the two countries will facilitate trade of green products and exchanges of green technologies, which can become a new source of growth for their economic cooperation, Li said.