Hu's Moscow tour to cement China-Russia ties
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Cheng said China-Russia friendship forged in the anti-fascist war had laid a solid foundation and provided an inexhaustible force for the bilateral partnership.
"The China-Russia relationship is the closest and the most dynamic one among big nations and enjoys the greatest potential," Cheng said.
Hu's visit will be part of high-level exchanges this year in a relationship that Cheng described as having "reached an unprecedented level."
Apart from their meeting on the sidelines of the BRIC summit in Brazil last month, Hu and Medvedev will have more opportunities to meet this year, Cheng said.
Russian Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov and State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov will visit China this year and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will pay an official visit to Russia in the latter half of 2010, he said.
China-Russia trade cooperation has also gone well this year with trade volume in the first quarter increasing 64 percent to 12 billion U.S. dollars.
"Leaving the financial crisis behind, China-Russia cooperation will reap great harvests with yearly trade volume likely hitting 60-80 billion U.S. dollars," Cheng said.
A 1,030-kilometer-long oil pipeline running from Skovorodino, Russia, to China's northeastern city of Daqing will be completed on schedule by the year end, Cheng added. The pipeline will transport 15 million tonnes of crude oil annually from Russia to China between 2011 and 2030.
