Pravda, Russia
April 22 2004

Chinese Foreign Minister in Moscow, Russian Defense Minister in
Beijing

17:07 2004-04-22
Igor Ivanov, the secretary of Russia’s security council, and Li
Zhaoxing, China’s foreign minister discussed practical steps towards
strengthening Russian-Chinese strategic partnership and expanding
bilateral interaction in the international arena in the Kremlin. They
discussed different aspects of international relations, said the
security council’s press service.

The sides noted that Russia and China are interested in the
maintenance of stability on the Eurasian space, including Central
Asian.

In the opinion of Mr. Ivanov, positive trends could be promoted by
more specific cooperation between countries of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) and China in the struggle against
international terrorism and drug trafficking, as well as in frontier,
visa and immigration policy.

At the meeting, Russia stressed that long-term strategic partnership
and interaction with China are among its main foreign policy
priorities.

Meanwhile, Sergei Ivanov, Russia’s defense minister who is now on a
visit to China, met with Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of China, and
gave him an invitation from Mikhail Fradkov, Russia’s prime minister,
to visit Russia.

“Mikhail Fradkov gives his kind regards to you and awaits your visit
in September,” Mr. Ivanov said.

“This year our contacts and working meetings calendar is very
packed,” the Russian defense minister said. He added that the Chinese
foreign minister is now on a visit to Russia and that he is in China.

In turn, Mr. Wen said that Mr. Ivanov’s visit was “at a very
important moment.” The Chinese prime minister stressed that the
Russian defense minister has had very productive talks with Jiang
Zemin, the chairman of the Central Military Commission.

“Your visit will not only promote the development of relations
between our armed forces but also between our countries,” Mr. Wen
said.