94 various agreements signed by Russia and China in 2015 - Russian lawmaker

BEIJING, May 5. /TASS/. Russia and China signed 94 agreements, ranging in status from interstate to commercial, in 2015, a Russian senior lawmaker said on Thursday. "In all, as many as 94 interstate, inter-government, inter-ministerial and commercial agreements were signed last year," Ivan Melnikov, the first deputy speaker of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, who is in charge of inter-parliamentary ties with China, said on Thursday at a meeting of the inter-parliamentary cooperation commission. He stressed that the Russian side attaches greater significance to close humanitarian cooperation between the two countries. "Russia and China have similar approaches to what international relations are to look like in the 21st century," he said. "That is why it is easy for us to find common language and coordinate positions on all of the most topical global and regional problems, and within international organizations, forums, including in the area of inter-parliamentary cooperation." He expressed confidence that Russian and Chinese lawmakers will be able to "give a fresh impetus" to their cooperation and make a "serious contribution to closer dialogue between Russia and China." "Lawmakers of the Russian State Duma represent various social and political forces of our country but they all share support to the course towards further development of relations with Chinese partners," he said, adding that top-level contacts play a major role in promoting bilateral relations. Russia and China managed to further strengthen mutual understanding and trust in 2015, which "was vividly demonstrated during the five meetings between Russian and Chinese Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping," Melnikov said. A Russian delegation led by State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin arrived in Beijing on Wednesday. Naryshkin is expected to have talks with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhang Dejiang and with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The delegation includes chairman of the State Duma international committee Alexei Pushkov, chairman of economic policy committee Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the property committee Sergei Gavriov, who is coordinator of the lawmakers’ group on relations with the Chinese parliament, and lawmaker Vadin Dengin. Read more