Putin, Xi pledge closer coordination in 2014
December 31, 2013, 6:04 am

China is throwing its growing economic weight behind linking Eurasia through rebuilding the Silk Route Economic Corridor and has urged Russia and India to join the revival project [AP Images]

The two exchanged greetings on Tuesday for the new year.

“During the past year, China and Russia focused on the overarching objective of facilitating healthy and stable progress of the international situation and promoting the development and revitalization of both countries,” said the Chinese President.

Xi said, he is “ready to maintain close communication and contact with Putin” and work together to steer the development of bilateral ties into a new phase.

In 2013, Xi and Putin have overseen enormous Sino-Russian joint ventures including a massive oil deal with state-run Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil company striking agreements to almost triple oil supplies to China in coming years from the around 300,000 barrels per day (15 million tonnes a year) it ships there currently.

Putin has stressed that Russian oil and gas companies will concentrate on China and other energy-hungry Asian economies.

On Tuesday, Putin said the Chinese President’s state visit to Russia in March was of great significance for bilateral ties.

The trip, he said, injected great energy into the development of the Russia-China partnership and the improvement of bilateral coordination in international affairs.

China and Russia have also jointly opposed a US proposal for military intervention in Syria and are aiding the dismantling process of Syria’s chemical weapons with UN’s chemical watchdog OPCW.

The two sides alongwith the BRICS have also backed a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.

China is also set to invest $20 billion in Russian infrastructure projects including highways, ports, and airports.

China is throwing its growing economic weight behind linking Eurasia through rebuilding the Silk Route Economic Corridor and has urged Russia and India to join the revival project.

Russia and China have, in recent years, also strived to deepen military cooperation demonstrating a growing mutual trust between the two states, moving away from the Soviet times in which ties were strained. The two nations held joint armed forces drills of the summer –the Peace Mission 2013, an exercise which was China’s largest military drills with a foreign partner.

TBP and Agencies