Former Russian ambassador hails Hu Jintao's state visit

　　Chinese President Hu Jintao's three-day visit to Russia "has become a salient event in our relations," former Russian Ambassador to China Igor Rogachev said Thursday.

　　Hu Wednesday concluded the visit, during which he held talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The two signed a joint statement on furthering the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation.

　　The joint statement was a "an important document, covering all the spheres of Russian-Chinese cooperation," Rogachev, former ambassador to China for 13 years and now a member of the Federation Council (upper house of the parliament) told the Itar-Tass news agency.

　　Highlighting cooperation in international affairs, the former diplomat said Russia and China "will have to vote this year at the UN Security Council and other international organizations on Iran, Iraq, a settlement of the Kosovo province problem, Afghanistan, the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula and other issues."

　　"Important contact between members of the business communities of the two countries were made with the participation of numerous Chinese business people" during Hu's state visit, Rogachev said.

　　He also spoke of the importance of regional cooperation between the two sides.

　　"Participation in business partnership of both border regions as well as regions in the southern and European parts of Russia has become one of the main achievements of the 'Year of Russia' in China and 'Year of China' in Russia."

　　More than 70 Russian regions "have now twinned relations with provinces and autonomous areas of China," he said.

　　As a result, "the volume of trade is on the rise, topping 33 billion U.S. dollars last year. However, the leaders of our countries set the task of hitting the volume of 60-80 billion dollars by 2010," he said.

　　Hu and Putin attended the opening ceremony of the "Year of China" in Russia, a reciprocal event of the "Year of Russia" marked in China last year. Some 200 events have been planned for the theme year, covering fields such as politics, economy, science and culture.