China confident of fruitful APEC 'China Year' with support from Russia, other parties

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday that China believes the APEC "China Year" will deliver fruitful results with the support of Russia and other parties, as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, next month.

He made the remarks while meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the seventh Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Wang also expressed hope that the meeting will spur development and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Noting that Eurasian countries aspire to maintain peace and stability and deepen multilateral coordination, Wang said that China is ready to work closely with CICA member states, including Russia, to practice genuine multilateralism and contribute to improving global governance.

Lavrov said Russia fully supports China in hosting the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.

Stressing that the two countries share similar positions on international affairs, Lavrov expressed Russia's willingness to further strengthen coordination with China within the United Nations, the Group of 20, APEC, BRICS, and other multilateral frameworks to jointly safeguard international fairness and justice.

During the meeting, China and Russia also coordinated positions on the next steps in high-level exchanges, as well as on international and regional hot-spot issues of common concern, and reached new consensus.