Chinese President Hu Jintao, currently on a state visit to Russia, said on Thursday he hoped this visit would further enhance political mutual trust, expand economic and trade cooperation, promote humanities exchanges and strengthen strategic coordination between Russia and China.
   
Continued cooperation would give new impetus to the China-Russia strategic partnership and serve the interests of the two peoples, Hu said at a private dinner on Thursday evening hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hu said he is very pleased to be visiting Russia again. He noted that recent years have seen a good momentum of development in their bilateral strategic partnership, while cooperation has continuously expanded in the political, economic, trade, energy resources, investment, cultural, educational and military sectors, with satisfactory results.
   
Both countries have also undertaken good coordination and cooperation in international affairs, Hu added.
   
President Putin said he was happy to welcome Hu to Moscow again, adding that Russia highly values its strategic partnership of coordination with China.
   
The two countries will hold their first military exercises this year, Putin added, and the two sides are expected to sign several cooperation agreements.

Hu will also visit Novorsibirsk, Russia's third largest city after Moscow and St. Petersburg.
   
After Russia, Hu proceeds to Kazakhstan, the second leg of his ongoing three-nation tour, which will also take him to Britain where he will attend the G8 plus five Summit.

In 2001, the two countries signed the Sino-Russian Good-neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, which serves as the legal foundation of bilateral friendly relations.

Last year, trade between the two countries reached a record high of US$21.2 billion, or a 34.7 percent increase over the previous year. In the first three months of this year, the trade volume increased 20.7 percent over the corresponding period of last year.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2005)