Chinese President Hu
Jintao Saturday congratulated the start of "the Year of
Russia" in China, and announced the launching of the Sino-Indian
Friendship Year today.
'Year of Russia' in China
In his New Year message, President Hu said China will launch
"the Year of Russia" in 2006 and Russia will hold "the Year of
China" in 2007. As a pioneering project, these activities will
greatly stimulate the comprehensive development of Sino-Russian
relations, Hu said.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to the upcoming
"Year of Russia". "We will cooperate closely with our Russian
counterparts, make careful preparations and spare no efforts in
implementing the program, so as to ensure the event becomes a
complete success," the president said.
In his message, President Hu said that China and Russia are one
another's largest neighbors, and it is their common choice to
achieve good neighborliness.
As strategic partners, cooperation and development are the
common tasks of the two countries, Hu said.
Both being permanent members of the UN Security Council, China
and Russia share joint responsibilities to maintain peace and
stability in the region and the world at large, the Chinese leader
noted.
In recent years, following the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly
Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, China and Russia have
gained significant achievements in enhancing political mutual
trust, strategic cooperation and traditional friendship, President
Hu said.
He hoped the two countries would continue to join hands in the
new year, to further strengthen bilateral exchanges and
cooperation, so as to push the neighborly friendship and strategic
cooperation between the two countries to a new level.
In his congratulatory message, Russian President Putin said that
in the past 2005, the increasing mutual trust and rapid development
of cultural and economic cooperation of the two nations reached a
new high.
He pointed out that Sino-Russian strategic cooperative
partnership has played an important role in keeping global peace
and security, and helping to build an equitable multipolar
world.
As the first guideline for the two countries to cooperate in
various fields, the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of
Friendship and Cooperation is being implemented smoothly, the
president said.
He said "the Year of Russia" in China and "the Year of China" in
Russia are part of the efforts to further strengthen the two sides'
strategic cooperative partnership on the basis of mutual respect
and trust.
The Russian president also expressed his belief that "the Year
of Russia" in China will provide new opportunities for both
countries to further expand bilateral cooperation, and benefit
peoples of the two countries.
Sino-Indian Friendship Year
President Hu Jintao and his Indian counterpart Abdul Kalam
exchanged congratulations Sunday on the launching of the
Sino-Indian Friendship Year and vowed to further develop the
bilateral ties and boost cooperation in 2006.
China and India are good neighbors with a long-standing
friendship between the two peoples, said Hu in his congratulatory
message.
The Sino-Indian relations have been pushed to higher levels
thanks to joint efforts of the two countries since they established
diplomatic relations, Hu said.
The establishment of the Sino-Indian strategic cooperative
partnership oriented to peace and prosperity in 2005 marked a new
stage for the development of the bilateral ties, and the
declaration on setting the year 2006 as Sino-Indian Friendship Year
demonstrated the common aspiration of the two governments and two
peoples to strengthen good-neighborly relations, expand
mutually-beneficial cooperation and boost common development, Hu
said.
In the year 2006, China will take the Sino-Indian Friendship
Year as an opportunity to boost the traditional Sino-Indian
friendship, expand bilateral dialogues, exchanges and cooperation
in various fields to enrich the contents of bilateral ties and push
forward the development of the bilateral strategic cooperative
partnership, Hu said.
Kalam said in his message that the far-reaching historic and
cultural exchanges between the two ancient civilizations of India
and China have greatly contributed to the civilization of human
beings.
The leaders of India and China jointly initiated the Five
Principles of Peaceful Coexistence over 50 years ago, Kalam
noted.
Kalam said India was satisfied with the remarkable progress
achieved in the bilateral relations with China during the recent
years, and that the establishment of bilateral strategic
cooperative partnership oriented to peace and prosperity showed the
determination of both sides to seek cooperation and paved way for
bringing the bilateral ties to a new high.
The launching of the Sino-Indian Friendship Year is a landmark
in the history of bilateral relations and India looks forward to
taking the Friendship Year as an opportunity to further deepen and
enrich the bilateral relations, he said.
Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh also exchanged
congratulatory messages over the Sino-Indian Friendship Year on
Sunday.
(Xinhua News Agency January 1, 2006)