During a meeting in the Kremlin with Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, Putin said both sides are now working energetically on a pact of good neighborly relations and friendly cooperation, an important document that is expected to be signed next year.

Li, who arrived in Russia Monday on a nine-day official visit, said China has always been positive on developing its relations with Russia and the signing of such a document would lay a solid legal foundation for bilateral collaboration of mutual benefit for generations to come.

Putin recalled his recent meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin at the Millennium Summit in New York.

At Jiang's initiative, the leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council held a joint meeting, the first in the history of the world body.

Li Peng said that close consultations among the leaders of the five countries and steps to institutionalize such consultations are of great significance because they are conducive to maintaining the authority of the UN and the Security Council and to strengthening their roles.

Putin expressed agreement with Li's view. He said it is very important for the five countries to step up consultations and cooperation in an effort to strengthen the role of the UN and the Security Council.

Li said that the recent meetings between presidents Jiang and Putin in Beijing and New York, as well as their speeches delivered at the Millennium Summit, demonstrated that both countries share a sincere desire to strengthen their ties and have broad consensus on a series of major international and regional issues.

He stressed that the establishment of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation was the historic choice made by the two countries in accordance with the changes in post-Cold War international affairs.

Such a partnership embodies the common aspirations of the two countries' people who long for good-neighborly relations and cooperation of mutual benefit, Li said.

The two leaders agreed that bilateral ties have broad vistas.

Putin said it is no coincidence that Russia and China share common interests and aspirations, because both countries cherish good-neighborly friendship, advocate the movement toward a multi- polar world, and strive for a balance of interests in world affairs.

On Wednesday, the Chinese leader also met separately with former Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov and former Russian prime ministers Yevgeny Primakov and Viktor Chernomyrdin.

Li thanked them for their contributions to relations between Beijing and Moscow and expressed the hope that they would continue to help push forward bilateral ties in their present capacity as members of the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament.

(Xinhua 09/14/2000)