Highlights of Chinese VP's visit to Russia

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The following are the highlights of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia, during which he is expected to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov on bilateral relations.

Xi is also expected to attend the opening ceremony of the Year of the Chinese Language in Russia as well as the opening of the second round of strategic dialogue between Chinese and Russian ruling parties.

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- At the invitation of Putin, Xi arrived in the Russian city of Vladivostok on Saturday for a five-day official visit to Russia, the first leg of Xi's four-nation Europe tour, which will also take him to Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Xi held a symposium on Saturday on strengthening China-Russia interregional cooperation, which was attended by senior officials from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, China's Heilongjiang Province and Wenzhou City and Chinese enterprises.

Xi said Russia's Far East area and China's northern frontier provinces were important trading partners and should enhance bilateral cooperation.

This would not only promote economic and social development and improve the livelihoods of people in the neighboring regions, but also inject powerful energy into the development of the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, he said.

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- China and Russia signed 15 cooperation documents totalling 1.6 billion U.S. dollars on Saturday.

Representatives of the governments and business communities of the two countries signed the documents covering economic, technological, energy and infrastructure cooperation.

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Xi met with Governor of Russia's Primorsky Territory Sergey Mikhaylovich Darkin on Saturday on boosting the interregional cooperation between China and Russia to a wider and deeper level, as agreed by leaders of both sides.

Conditions were already mature for the development of interregional cooperation between the two countries, Xi said.

While the settlement of border issues and the approval of a cooperation plan outline had laid a political and legal basis for cooperation, the strong will of working hand in hand by the government and enterprises on both sides was also making it possible, the Chinese leader said.