Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev paid an official visit to China. He will stay in the Celestial Empire until December 17.
During his visit, Medvedev will attend a meeting of the Council of the Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on December 14-15 in Zhengzhou. On December 16 he will make a speech at the opening ceremony of the Second World Internet Conference in Wucheng. He also will hold the 20th regular meeting of the Russian and Chinese heads of government with his counterpart Li Keqiang.
In addition, Dmitry Medvedev plans to hold a range of bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah, RIA Novosti reports.
As the Deputy Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies of Moscow State University, Andrey Korneev, said in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, today "the most important task in the relations between Moscow and Beijing is to stabilize Russian-Chinese trade and economic cooperation." "It's no secret that under the influence of the economic crisis and international factors Russian-Chinese trade is experiencing a severe downturn this year. So they will probably discuss measures to stabilize our economic and trade cooperation and expand it in the most promising areas, even before the start of economic growth in Russia. There are projects in infrastructure, transport, communications, processing of raw materials, a variety of projects in the service, tourism, science and technology sectors which could reinforce cooperation," he said.
He said that China, which has already faced a crisis, and Russia which is facing one now, could help each other to overcome these difficulties. "For example, I think there will be gradual, sequential advance payments in national currencies, mutual support for financial stability," the expert listed.
The expert noted that membership in the SCO brings Russia a lot of benefits. "First, it allows us to solve a number of problems in the field of security and coordination of the interests of our countries in order to ensure stability in the vast expanses of the Eurasian continent. In addition, it allows us to gradually move towards the creation of new mechanisms which will facilitate mutual investment, transport links, cultural cooperation, tourism and health care," Korneev believes.
"It is very important that this year India and Pakistan joined the union, it provides the organization with even greater international influence, so on the basis of the SCO Russia can bring its positions on international issues to the attention of the world community more effectively," the Deputy Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies of Moscow State University concluded.
