Russia, China to tie the bond of friendship soon

Dadan Upadhyay

Moscow, April 30: RUSSIA and China initialed on Sunday the draft treaty on good neighbourly relations, friendship and cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said at a press conference after his talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan.

The treaty will be signed during the forthcoming visit of Chinese President Jiang Jemin to Moscow, in July. Addressing the joint press conference with his Chinese counterpart, Ivanov said that during the summit, Jiang will hold three meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two sides are unanimous that friendship treaty ‘‘will play a great role in the further development and enrichment of our relations in all areas, and will strengthen peace and stability at the regional and international levels, and establish a new and fair world order,’’ Ivanov said.

Tang, who took part in the Shanghai-5 Foreign Ministers conference in Moscow on Saturday, held talks with Putin in the Kremlin on Sunday, to finalise Jiang’s visit. At the start of the talks, Putin highly praised Russian-Chinese summit meetings, saying they are followed by intensive contacts between the Russians and Chinese.

He said, ‘‘There were actually no problems complicating relations between Russia and China,’’ adding that ‘‘Russian-Chinese relations are developing positively and at a fast pace.’’ Putin cited increasing trade between the two countries as a concrete proof of this ever-developing relations. The trade turnover between Russia and China increased by 40 per cent in 2000, reaching $ 8 billion, he said.

Putin is scheduled to visit China for the Shanghai-5 heads of state summit inJune. He expressed the hope that the summit will bring about important results. ‘‘I will have an opportunity to meet and exchange views with Chinese leader Jiang Zemin,’’ he said.