Chinese Top Legislator Meets Russian PM

Li Peng Meets Russian PM

Visiting Chinese top legislator Li Peng met Thursday with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and discussed with him bilateral ties, economic and trade cooperation and other issues of common concern.

Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, is Moscow on a nine-day official visit.

He said China and Russia, as neighboring powers with identical or similar views on many issues in international affairs, should deepen their cooperation in politics, economy, science and technology and other fields.

Kasyanov commended Li for his contributions over the years to the development of bilateral cooperation as China's top legislator and premier.

Li said the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation conforms to their fundamental interests. He expressed the hope that the two sides would achieve more substantial results in the future.

Kasyanov said the development of bilateral political ties has laid a sound foundation for economic and trade cooperation, which should become more active.

He said he is looking forward to meeting Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing shortly in Moscow and meeting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji in Beijing later this year.

Li said the Chinese side would take concrete steps implementing the agreements reached recently in Beijing by Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said the two sides should help push forward the direct cooperation between the enterprises and the various regions of the two countries.

Li said China is implementing the strategy of developing its western regions, and Russian enterprises are welcome to participate in the regions' infrastructure construction.