► Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin in Beijing on Wednesday.

Xi said that China and Russia, each other’s largest neighbors and both permanent members of the UN Security Council, share extensive common interests.

« This year, President Putin and I had face-to-face in-depth exchanges twice and reached a lot of new consensus on deepening the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination and practical cooperation in various fields, » said Xi.

Noting that next year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of China-Russia diplomatic ties, Xi said China is ready to work with Russia to deepen bilateral relations featuring permanent good-neighborly friendship, comprehensive strategic coordination and mutually beneficial cooperation to inject new impetus into the development of the two countries and contribute to the prosperity and stability of the world.

Xi stressed that strengthening cooperation between legislative bodies plays an important role in ensuring the steady and long-term development of China-Russia relations.

Xi expressed his hope that the Russian State Duma and the National People’s Congress of China will strengthen exchanges of legislative experience and give full play to the role of special committees and friendship groups of the two legislatures to provide better legal support for bilateral cooperation.

He called on the two legislatures to ensure the synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union, and deepen communication and coordination in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, G20 and other multilateral platforms.

Volodin said that under the strategic guidance of President Xi and President Putin, Russia-China relations have reached the best level in history, noting that all parties in the Russian State Duma have a high degree of consensus on developing friendly relations with China.

Russia firmly pursues the one-China policy and firmly supports China in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Russia is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the legislatures and between the political parties of the two countries, actively implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, deepen friendship and mutual trust between the two peoples, said Volodin.

Wang Yi, Peng Qinghua attended the meeting.