Representatives of government agencies, journalists and media managers from Russia’s leading media outlets visited six cities in southern China during a press tour: Guangzhou and Shenzhen (Guangdong Province), Xiamen, Quanzhou, Ningde and Fuzhou (Fujian Province).

The Russian delegation was led by Andrey Nastasin, Deputy Director of the Press and Information Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. He called it symbolic that the dates of the press tour coincided with the days of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to China.

“Relations between the countries are developing. Trade turnover is growing, political contacts are strengthening. Our states are implementing joint projects in the common Eurasian space” 

Andrey Nastasin Deputy Director of the Press and Information Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry

The meeting with the heads of Chinese city administrations in Xiamen focused on interstate and interregional co-operation. This year Russia is chairing BRICS; the summit of the association is to be held in autumn in the city of Kazan.

“Relations between the countries are developing. Trade turnover is growing, political contacts are strengthening. Our states are implementing joint projects in the common Eurasian space” 

Chen Guoquan Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of Fujian Provincial People’s Government

Chen Guoquan said that twinning ties have been established between many regions of the two countries. For example, China’s Fuzhou is a sister city of Russia’s Omsk, and Quanzhou is a sister city of Maykop. The official also expressed hope for the expansion of co-operation between the two countries in the media sphere and shared plans to invite representatives of not only federal but also regional media of Russia to Fujian in the near future.

Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrey Nastasin, in turn, invited Guangdong officials to take part in the BRICS Sports Games to be held in Kazan at the end of June this year.

“I believe that the participation of provincial representatives would be in demand, timely and in line with the spirit of bilateral relations,” he added.

Deng Hong, Deputy Director of the Guangdong Provincial Government Information Office, called for strengthening youth exchanges between Russia and China.

“We hope that strong friendly relations between our countries, cities and peoples will be passed on from generation to generation,” he said.

The press tour of China, organised by the Chinese Embassy in the Russian Federation, took place from 11 to 20 May.

Photo: TV BRICS