BEIJING, May 16. /TASS/. Moscow and Beijing have accumulated a strong background in practical cooperation and China is Russia’s main partner in the trade and economy field, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

"Moscow and Beijing have indeed developed a strong background in technical cooperation," the Russian leader said. He reiterated that in 2023, the bilateral trade turnover increased almost by one-fourth, reaching $227 bln.

The Russian president stressed that China is Russia’s main partner in the sphere of trade and economy. "By the end of last year, Russia was in the fourth place among China’s trade partners. This was directly influenced by the approval of a plan of development of key directions of Russian-Chinese economic cooperation until 2023 following your visit to Moscow in March 2023," Putin told Xi.

The Russian leader named energy, industry and agriculture as priorities. He separately noted cooperation on hi-tech, innovations, infrastructure construction and transport. "Humanitarian interaction is expanding. According to our agreement, we will hold cross-years of Russia and China’s culture in 2024-2025," he added.

While greeting the Chinese president, Putin noted that he was sincerely happy to visit hospitable China again.