Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev meet the press after the 20th China-Russia Prime Ministers' Regular Meeting in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 17, 2015. [Photo: Xinhua]
China and Russia signed more than 30 cooperation documents after the Prime Ministers' meeting. Both leaders witnessed the signings and then met the media together.
Energy giants Sinopec and Rosneft signed a Memorandum of Understanding on oil and gas projects in eastern Siberia while CNPC and Gazprom inked an agreement on the design and construction of the cross-border section of China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline.
The central banks of China and Russia have also signed a MOU to expand financial cooperation, promoting local currency settlements, bank card issuance, access to local-currency bond markets and credit rating partnerships.
When meeting the press, Premiere Li said there is an increasing commodity imports from Russia to China and a rising bilateral cooperation in energy, equipment as well as high technology and e-commerce.
However, he says that both countries are as well facing common challenges for growth.
"Currently the strength of the global economic recovery, especially in the price of commodities, is rapidly decreasing. Complex factors in the international economy are giving us two neighbors, because China and Russia are each other's biggest neighbors, are bringing new challenges to our two global emerging economies."
Medvedev has also called for the two nations to seek new growth points for bilateral trade, especially the potential of cooperation on agriculture.
"China is a country with the largest population on the planet. Russia is the country with the largest territory, which has ten per cent of the world farmland concentrated on it. So if we join these potentials, we will get an absolutely new situation. We agreed to do that and we have signed agreements aimed at the development of our relations in this sphere."
Later on Thursday, they have also witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between China Radio International and the Russian Siberian Media Group. Both sides are set to strengthen cooperation on program exchanges and promotion, people to people communication as well as the establishment of a coordinated major-events covering mechanism.
The agreement is a part of the preparation for a China-Russia Media Exchange Year in 2016 and 2017. Li and Medvedev both called on the media to contribute to the understanding and friendship of the people in the two countries.
Speaking at the event, attended by students from China and Russia, Medvedev said the two countries would support each other as friends.
"Friendship comes from the heart; it comes from mutual liking, respect and faith. And it is these feelings that a huge number of people who live in Chinese and Russians share. And you should not doubt these people can always count on mutual support, due to the feelings of their friends"
In a joint communique released after the meeting, the two countries pledged to enhance coordination in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and jointly fight terrorism.
Prior to the meeting, Li held a red-carpet ceremony to welcome Medvedev at the Great Hall of the People.
