Hu Jintao met with Russian State Duma Speaker Gryzlov in the Great Hall of the People

On the afternoon of June 17, 2005, President Hu Jintao met and held sincere and friendly talks with Russian State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov in the Great Hall of the People.

Hu said that with more than a decade of development China-Russia relations have reached unprecedented level. The two countries established the strategic partnership and signed the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. The high-level exchanges between the two countries remain frequent and have been institutionalized, the mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields keeps deepening rapidly and the two sides maintain close communications and coordination in the international and regional affairs.

Hu pointed out both China and Russia face the major tasks of maintaining peace and stability and accelerating economic growth. The mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries enjoys great potential and promising prospects. China attaches great importance to the relations with Russia and expects to work with Russia to constantly raise the China-Russia strategic partnership to higher levels. Hu added China and Russia emphasize the friendly exchanges between the legislative bodies and it is hoped the National People's Congress (NPC) of China and the Russian Federal Assembly and the State Duma make full use of the existing cooperative relations and related mechanisms to actively push for the all-round progress of China-Russia strategic partnership.

Gryzlov said Russia gives priority to developing the relations with China and feels satisfied with the stable and healthy development of Russia-China strategic partnership. The Russian Federal Assembly and the State Duma expect to completely strengthen the cooperation with the NPC of China in a bid to promote the in-depth development of bilateral relations in such fields as economy, trade, energy, legal system and humanities and contribute to opening a new chapter in the history of Russia-China friendship.