Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow for a state visit to Russia, at the start of his first foreign trip since he became head of state last week. He held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and they agreed on new measures to strengthen their partnership.

Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Grand Kremlin Palace, where the two leaders also attended a ceremony to sign various bilateral agreements.

Xi Jinping said the fact that Russia is the first country he has visited and Putin the first head of state he has met since he assumed the Chinese presidency demonstrates the special nature of the China-Russia relationship.

Putin extended a warm welcome to the Chinese president, and said he is confident that the visit will give a strong boost to bilateral ties.

Earlier, the Russian president said relations between Moscow and Beijing will help "shape a new and more just world order".

During their meeting, the two leaders discussed the further development of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. Major regional and world issues were also on the agenda.

Vladimir Putin, Russian President, said, "I agreed with the Chinese president to do whatever it takes to further develop our economic and trade cooperation, humanitarian and other ties. A lot of our joint projects reassure us that we will reach the turnover of 100 billion US dollars in the near future and 150 billion dollars soon after that."

Xi Jinping, Chinese President, said, "Russia and China have close or similar positions on key international and regional issues. We have wide mutual interests in this regard. We have decided that in the future we must strengthen our coordination and cooperation to resolve these key issues. We intend to firmly defend goals and principles of the UN Charter, as well as the universally recognised code of international relations to protect justice and equality in the world, and to ensure peace, stability and prosperity on the planet."

Before the talks, Xi attended a welcoming ceremony hosted by Putin. Russia is the first leg of Xi's 9-day trip, which will also take him to Tanzania, the Republic of Congo and South Africa, where he will attend the fifth BRICS Leaders Summit in the South African city of Durban.