China, Russia pledge economic cooperation

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang (2nd R front) and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin (1st R front) visit the first China-Russia Exposition after attending the opening ceremony of Russian pavilion in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, June 30, 2014. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang held talks with Russian counterpart Dmitry Rogozin in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang province, on Monday, with the two vowing boosted cooperation.

Wang, Chinese chairperson of the Joint Commission for the Regular Prime Ministers' Meetings of China and Russia, said historical breakthroughs have been achieved between the two countries in areas like energy and aviation since Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Shanghai in May.

The meeting between the two presidents made clear the direction and focus of bilateral cooperation for the next stage, said Wang, calling on both sides to grasp the opportunity to promote cooperation on major strategic projects in the areas of aviation, nuclear energy, mechanical production, finance and cross-border infrastructure construction.

He and Rogozin also attended the opening ceremony of the first China-Russia Exposition on Sunday in Harbin.

At the event, Wang encouraged enterprises from either side to make full use of the expo so as to boost each other's development.

Calling the event a new measure to expand bilateral cooperation, Rogozin said Russia is willing to work with China to bring the intergovernmental cooperative mechanism and the exposition into full play so as to lift economic cooperation into a new level.

The China-Russian Exposition marks the first time that China has co-hosted a national-level exposition with another country.

Scheduled to last from Monday to Friday, it is being jointly held by China's Ministry of Commerce, Heilongjiang provincial government and the Russian ministries of economic development and industry and trade.

Russia is a major trade partner of China. In the first four months of 2014, the bilateral trade volume grew by 3.4 percent year on year to 29.06 billion U.S. dollars.