MOSCOW, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here on Wednesday for a state visit to Russia as the two countries are expected to bring their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination to a new era.
Xi is expected to join Russian President Vladimir Putin in reviewing the achievements and experience in the development of the bilateral relationship over the past seven decades and charting the course for its future development.
The two leaders are also expected to sign or witness the signing of important cooperation documents, and attend a gathering celebrating the 70 anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.
"We have the confidence and capability to bring our relations to a new era of greater development at a higher level, based on our experience and achievements of the past 70 years," Xi said in an interview with TASS Russian News Agency and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper on the eve of the visit.
During his stay in Russia, Xi will also attend the 23rd St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. He will address a plenary session to expound China's ideas on sustainable development and call for concerted efforts to safeguard multilateralism and improve global governance for the common development and prosperity of the world.
Xi's visit to Russia, the eighth since 2013 when he was elected Chinese president, comes as the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is at its best in history.
Xi and Putin, maintaining close friendship, have met nearly 30 times on bilateral and multilateral occasions since 2013. In a meeting with Putin in April, Xi said the bilateral relationship has become a major-country relationship featuring the highest degree of mutual trust, the highest level of coordination and the highest strategic value.
