Premier Li Keqiang attended the joint news conference with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev after the 20th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian prime ministers in Beijing on Dec 17.

Premier Li introduced the achievements of the regular meeting, saying that both parties reviewed the development of the bilateral ties and conditions of future cooperation.

Under the context of world’s weak economic recovery, despite the decreased bilateral trade volume (calculated in US dollars) this year, trade scale and cooperation in energy, equipment manufacturing, high technology, and e-commerce are improving. New growth points and highlights have emerged in bilateral trade, he said.

The Premier also noted that there is huge potential in bilateral trade as both China and Russia are faced with the tasks to adjust economic structure. Strengthened cooperation between China and Russia is not only beneficial to the well-being of the people of the two countries but also helpful to restore the confidence of emerging economies and developing countries to face up to the current complex world economy.

Medvedev said that the regular meeting this time yielded positive achievements, indicating the high level of China-Russia all-around strategic partnership and the huge potential of bilateral cooperation.

He said that Russia is willing to make joint efforts with China in exploring potential in bilateral cooperation and promoting further pragmatic cooperation between the two countries.

He also invited Premier Li to pay an official visit to Russia and attend the 21st regular meeting between Chinese and Russian prime ministers in Russia next year.