Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin have called for more efforts to strengthen cultural ties between the two countries.

In a message sent to "China Week" which opened in St. Petersburg on Wednesday afternoon, Hu said that strengthening Sino-Russian cultural exchanges is conducive to enhancing the understandings between the two peoples and promoting the enrichment and development of the two cultures.

Putin, in his message, said that cultural exchanges are a way leading to better understandings, which, in turn, help expand common grounds for friendly cooperation between the two sides.

Hu's message was read at the opening ceremony by Zhao Qizheng, director of the Information Office of the Chinese government, while Putin's message was delivered by the acting mayor of St. Petersburg.

China sent a 300-strong Chinese delegation to the cultural event, which will conclude on Aug. 28.

In the coming nine days, people in this northern Russian city will be offered a grand feast of Chinese music, acrobatic performance, fashion show and photo exhibition.

The Week of China, the largest of its kind held by the Chinese government in recent years, is co-sponsored jointly by the Information Office of the Chinese government and the St. Petersburg city government.

In the past three or four years, about 285 Russian artistic groups visited China, but only 30 Chinese art groups visited Russia.

Zhao said that the Chinese government would encourage more Chinese artistic groups to come to Russia.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2003)