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China & Russia are good neighbors, friendly states & strategic partners – Xi Jinping

The sides agreed to increase the total number of students in higher educational establishments in both countries to 100,000 people by 2020

MOSCOW, March 23 (Itar-Tass) – China and Russia are close neighbors, friendly states and strategic partners, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a meeting with a group of Russian scholars who study China on Saturday.

The Chinese leader said that the main task of Sino-Russian bilateral cooperation, at present and in future, was to create mutually right impression of each other. “The fact that Russia is having a Chinese boom and that so many young people are learning Chinese is a positive trend,” the Chinese president emphasized.

Xi Jinping praised the quality of Chinese studies in Russia and called it the leader in world sinology. The Chinese president believes that the Chinese will also show growing interest in the Russian language. About sixty institutions of high learning taught Russian in China fifteen years ago. Now, their number has exceeded a hundred.

The sides agreed to increase the total number of students in higher educational establishments in both countries to 100,000 people by 2020. “Strike the iron while it is hot,” Xi Jinping said.

In the meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after his recent talks with his Chinese counterpart that 2014-2015 would be a year of youth exchanges between Russia and China.

“We will do everything to enable our young people to communicate freely, discuss joint projects and plan joint initiatives with a historical perspective,” Putin said.

The Russian president said that the Year of Russian tourism had taken place in China. The number of Chinese tourists visiting Russia is on the rise. Now, the Year of Chinese tourism has kicked off in Russia.

“In 2010, Mr. Xi Jinping and I discussed the possibility of preparing an exposition devoted to the 6th Congress of the Communist Party of China. The congress took place in the village of Pervomaiskoye near Moscow in 1928. We agreed to open a permanent exposition in that village,” the Russian head of state said.