Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) meets with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov. 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)
MOSCOW, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Russia and China enjoy a "very confident progressive development of relations in all areas," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.
The two countries reached a record trade turnover in 2018 but this is not a limit, as Russia and China have ambitious plans discussed by President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping at various meetings, Lavrov said at his annual press conference.
According to China's customs authority, trade turnover between China and Russia surged by 27.1 percent to a record high of 107.06 billion U.S. dollars last year.
The two governments have identified about 70 projects worth a total of more than 100 billion dollars in various fields, including nuclear energy, agriculture, transport and space cooperation, Lavrov said.
He specially mentioned the coordination of the Russian and Chinese global navigation systems GLONASS and BeiDou.
"So our prospects in trade, economic and investment areas are very, very significant," the top Russian diplomat said.
Lavrov also praised the close cooperation and coordination between Moscow and Beijing in international affairs, including within BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the United Nations, as well as harmonizing the Eurasian Economic Union with the Belt and Road Initiative.
Russia and China have common approaches to resolving conflicts solely by political methods on the basis of international law and dialogue, including in Syria, elsewhere in the Middle East and on the Korean Peninsula, Lavrov said.
"The friendship between Russia and China is not aimed against anyone," Lavrov stressed.
Russia and China are friends because they are neighbors, have many common interests, are strategic partners in international affairs and equally see the need to make the world more stable, more secure and more democratic, he added.