MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. Russia intends to develop a comprehensive strategic partnership with China and considers work in this direction as the most important task, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the State Duma.
"We will develop a comprehensive strategic partnership with China as our most important task," the top diplomat said. "Our partnership plays a stabilizing role in world affairs. Bilateral trade is growing at a record pace. This year we and our Chinese friends will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (between the USSR and the People’s Republic of China - TASS), which are now at the best level in their history, and this movement, this partnership is based on the intensive and trusting dialogue between our leaders: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping," the top diplomat pointed out.
Lavrov emphasized that "the expansion of relations with partners, friends and like-minded people in Eurasia is also one of the top priorities" of Russia's foreign policy. In this regard, he pointed to the "particularly privileged strategic partnership with India, which is supported by a significant increase in mutual trade and the systematic development of energy, military and military-technical cooperation, [as well as] contacts within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) [and] the G20, which India chaired last year."