Premier Li meets the press: Full transcript of questions and answers

TASS: This year marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Russia and China, a milestone in the history of relations between our two countries. Last year, for the first time, two-way trade exceeded $100 billion. What new breakthroughs do you foresee for the growth of Russia-China relations, and in particular, their economic and trade cooperation this year?

Premier Li: China and Russia are each other's biggest neighbors. A sound and stable China-Russia relationship serves the interests of the two countries, the region and the world.

This year is the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. In the past seven decades, our relationship has traveled an extraordinary journey. And today it has reached a very high level featuring deepening mutual political trust and growing people-to-people exchange. As you mentioned, in spite of the downturn in global trade growth last year, trade between our two countries exceeded, for the first time, $100 billion. That shows there is still much untapped potential in our business ties. And we need to work together to further expand areas of cooperation. For example, we may continue to focus on our big project cooperation and trade in commodities. We may also strengthen our cooperation between micro and small firms and cross-border e-commerce platforms. We may enhance collaboration in aviation and aerospace, and also enhance exchanges at the sub-national level and between our peoples. In a word, we need to make use of all possible means at our disposal to, first, keep our 100-billion-dollar trade stable, and then, work further toward the goal of doubling it.