MOSCOW, January 21. /TASS/. Russia’s partnership with China has grown into an important element of maintaining global and regional stability and security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

Speaking at his annual news conference Lavrov said Russian-Chinese relations has gradually been expanding, while the partnership of Russia and China on the international arena has “gained solid ground as an important element in maintaining global andregional stability and security.”

“We carry on with our efforts of integrating Russia into the Asia-Pacific Region [APR],” Lavrov said. “The Russian president repeatedly stated that our cooperation with the APR is of the strategic nature for the whole 21st century. It is also important for the development of Russia’s eastern regions.”

“We have been intensifying our strategic cooperation with India and Vietnam, interacted with other countries in the region,” the Russian foreign minister said. “We have increased our participation in the activities of APR’s multilateral mechanisms.

The top Russian diplomat added that Russia wants to cooperate with the APR “not as an alternative to relations with Europe and the West on the whole, but simultaneously with their development.”

“This all must be definitely done with the mutual interest of our partners,” Lavrov added.

Russia and China have recently achieved a significant boost in their bilateral relations, primarily in the economic, energy, space and scientific as well as military spheres.

One of the milestone deals between the countries was signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China last May and it was an agreement on the Russian natural gas supplies to China.

Russian energy giant Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a 30-year contract on Russian natural gas supplies to China via the eastern route worth a total of $400 billion.

Over the past few years, the two countries have noticeably increased the intensity of their contacts. China has become Russia’s major trade partner while Russia is in the top ten of China’s main trade partners. In 2002-2013, bilateral trade hiked from $12 billion to $89.2 billion.

Russia and China are planning to bring their bilateral trade turnover to $100 billion by 2015 and to $200 billion by 2020.