MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. China’s President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia will be the key event in relations between Moscow and Beijing in 2023, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in comments on the results of Moscow’s diplomacy for 2022.

"This year, Russia and China will join efforts to enhance and promote further bilateral relations between the two governments. As you know, Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping on an official visit this spring. We proceed from the understanding that this will be the central event in the bilateral agenda for 2023," the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized.

Leaders’ diplomacy

The ministry highlighted the role of trusting ties between the two leaders in deepening the comprehensive bilateral partnership and strategic cooperation.

"In the past decade, the heads of state have held forty meetings. These include bilateral visits, meetings on the sidelines of multilateral forums, and other events," the Russian Foreign Ministry said as it expressed the hope that in-person exchanges would resume amid the easing of anti-coronavirus measures in China.

Multipolarity in focus

"Amid radical changes in the geopolitical situation, our countries have effectively managed to coordinate their foreign policy courses in order to maintain global peace and stability, to settle regional conflicts, to overcome confrontation and promote a unifying agenda. In cooperation with our counterparts, we have been taking consistent steps toward fighting attempts by the United States to achieve global dominance by promoting the concept of a rules-based order," the Foreign Ministry said.

Key trade partner

Last year, Russia’s trade with China rose by a third to new records, and the two countries saw gradual growth in practical cooperation in all domains, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in the comments.

"China has reasserted itself as Russia’s largest trade partner, a status it has held for more than a decade, and it is playing an increasingly important role as a friendly nation in the current circumstances," the ministry said, referring to recent progress in investment, manufacturing, energy, agriculture, space and other high-tech spheres. According to the comments, settlements in national currencies have doubled to account for more than half of all bilateral trade. The ministry pledged efforts to push that volume to $200 billion this year, a goal it said the two countries initially planned to attain by 2024.

"We will work hard to push relations between Russia and China to a higher level for the sake of bilateral progress and for the benefit of our peoples," the ministry concluded.