MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he plans to have a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang "on the sidelines of multilateral events."
"During Xi Jinping’s visit [to Russia], I had meetings with Wang Yi and Qin Gang. Meetings with Minister Qin Gang are also planned on the sidelines of other multilateral events," he said in an interview for Argumenty i Fakty, published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website Tuesday.
Lavrov noted that Qin Gang repeatedly visited Russia even before being appointed to his current office; he first met with Lavrov as a Foreign Minister of China in March this year.
"Our first meeting took place on March 2 on the sidelines of the meeting of G20 Foreign Ministers in New Delhi. We signed a plan of inter-Ministry consultations for this year. Under this important mechanism, we resume the in-person ‘synchronization’ between Deputy Foreign Ministers and relevant departments of our foreign policy agencies," the Russian Minister added.
He also underscored that Russian-Chinese ties continue to "develop gradually."
"There is a large-scale work on resolution of a significant number of practical issues ahead of us," Lavrov concluded.