China's Xi, Russia's Medvedev stress improved relations

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stressed continuing economic partnerships in their meeting Wednesday in Beijing.

Medvedev, on a three-day trip to China, noted that trade between the two countries will soon exceed $100 billion per year. He added that China and Russia are poised to create an economic fund to mutually finance innovative projects.

"Let's hope that the trade turnover will continue to grow in accordance with the ideas discussed some time ago and will reach the planned levels. This $100 billion, in my opinion, is not the limit. We will pay special attention to innovation," Medvedev said.

Xi said that China is prepared to cooperate with Russia on a trade route using Arctic navigation channels, what he called a "Silk Road on the Ice." He also highlighted bilateral cooperation in education, tourism and media, and urged more collaboration in high tech fields.

The optimistic comments came at the end of an annual meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government.

"The [Russian] Far East has a wide space and potential for the future development of Russia. If we succeed in stepping up cooperation in Russia's Far East, that will certainly expand the potential of our interaction," Chinese Premier Li Kiqiang said at the meeting. "This time we reached new agreements on cooperation in the Far East. We are going to boost China's investment in the development of the Far East. We are ready to import more Russian energy products from there."

Xi visited Moscow in July, and the two countries signed numerous agreements on energy, investment, innovation and travel since then, Li added.