XI’AN — Senior Chinese and Russian officials on Oct 9 agreed to push forward people-to-people exchange and cooperation between the two countries.

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets on Oct 9 co-chaired the 16th session of the China-Russia Committee on Humanities Cooperation in Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi province.

While meeting with Golodets, Liu said culture and humanities cooperation is an integral part of the relations between China and Russia.

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong visits a cultural heritage exhibition with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets in Shaanxi province, Oct 9, 2015.[Photo/Xinhua]

Liu said the two sides should strengthen planning on cultural exchange programs between the two countries and make good preparation for the 2016-2017 China-Russia Media Exchange Year.

She also called on both sides to make headway in the initiative of increasing the number of exchange students to 100,000 by 2020, as well as the programs on language teaching, traditional medicine, winter sports, cultural tourism and technological innovation.

Golodets lauded the success of the 2014-2015 China-Russia Youth Friendly Exchange Year activities as well as the joint celebrations on the 70th anniversary of the victory of the World War II.

She hoped that the two sides could work together to hold a successful China-Russia Media Exchange Year in 2016 and 2017, and push for new results in bilateral culture and humanities cooperation.

After their meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a number of cooperative documents in education, health, culture, tourism, sports and movie. They also visited an intangible cultural heritage exhibition in Xi’an.