JOHANNESBURG /South Africa/, July 24. /TASS/. The situation in the Asia Pacific region was the focus of a meeting between Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and member of the CCP Politburo Wang Yi, the Russian Security Council said on Monday.

"The sides discussed issues of closer Russian-Chinese cooperation in the bilateral and multilateral formats, as well as the expansion of practical interaction between Russia and China in the interests of strengthening the two countries’ security," it said, adding that the two security officials "exchanged views on the situation in the Asia Pacific region.

Patrushev and Wang met on the sidelines of a meeting of high security officials from the BRICS nations.