Economic Cooperation Between Russia, China Developing Dynamically - Putin

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent New Year's greetings to Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying that the economic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing continued to develop in 2023, with trade surpassing the $200 billion mark, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

"Trade and economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China is dynamic: the target of bringing trade to a record level of over $200 billion was reached ahead of schedule," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Moreover, the two Russia-China summits in March and October "gave a powerful impetus to the development of the comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between the two countries in all areas," the statement said.

"The successful implementation of the Cross Years of Physical Fitness and Sport has contributed to a significant expansion of humanitarian ties. Next in line are the Years of Culture between Russia and China: the events planned as part this new large-scale project take on special significance in the context of the upcoming 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the countries," Putin was quoted as saying in the statement.

In February 2022, Putin and Xi set a goal of reaching $200 billion in bilateral trade by 2024, after the previous threshold of $100 billion was passed in 2018.

Xi paid a state visit to Russia from March 20-22, during which he had a meeting with Putin. The leaders signed a joint statement on a plan to develop key areas of Russian-Chinese economic cooperation by 2030.

Putin paid an official visit to China from October 17-18, during which he held three-hour talks with Xi, discussing bilateral issues and the situation in the Middle East.