Putin confident Russia, China to continue making every effort to boost cooperation

MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is confident that Moscow and Beijing will continue making every possible effort to boost cooperation, as he himself said in response to a Chinese reporter’s question while visiting his re-election campaign headquarters. According to Putin, "Chairman Xi Jinping has been setting large-scale tasks for himself and his country, which concern China’s development." "There are some large-scale things, including the Silk Road initiative with its economic aspect," Putin said. "I will not speak about specific areas of our cooperation just now but we believe that it can be compared to our projects concerning the Eurasian Economic Union and the Eurasian integration in the broadest sense. Our interests coincide in this field, we have a lot of joint work to do and we will do it," Putin concluded. The Russian leader earlier congratulated Xi Jinping on his re-election as China’s president, saying that the decision made by the Chinese National People's Congress was a proof of his authority and a recognition of his contribution to ensuring China’s rapid economic and social development and safeguarding the country’s national interests at the international stage. Putin pointed out that Xi Jinping had done a lot to take bilateral relations to an unprecedentedly high level. Putin also said that he would be happy to hold new meetings with the Chinese leader, adding that he was confident the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries would grow. Read more