China vows to minimize pollution damage to Russia

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao said here Thursday that China will spare no effort to minimize the water-borne pollution damage to Russia, which was caused by the toxic spill in the Songhua River.

Hu told visiting Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev that China will deal with the issue seriously with an attitude of "being highly responsible to the two countries and the two peoples."

"We will take all necessary and effective measures and do our utmost to minimize the pollution and reduce the damage to the Russian side," Hu said, adding that China is also ready to improve communication and consultation with Russia, provide assistance and enhance cooperation.

"I believe relevant problems will be properly solved with our joint efforts and close cooperation," Hu said.

The pollution spill in northeastern China's Songhua River was caused by an explosion at a Chinese petrochemical plant early Nov.

Medvedev told Hu that the Songhua River pollution is a common challenge to both China and Russia, and the two countries should improve cooperation to overcome difficulties and conquer the disaster.

Before meeting with Hu, Medvedev, also president of the organizing committee of the Russia Year in China, had held talks with Chinese State Councilors Tang Jiaxuan and Chen Zhili. The two sides agreed to hold large-scale cultural activities within the coming two years, a move to strengthen bilateral strategic partnership.

The Russia Year in China scheduled for 2006 and the China Year in Russia for 2007 were in a joint statement during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China last year.

The two goodwill programs cover a wide spectrum of areas including culture, education, economy, political systems and traditional customs of the two countries.

Hu said he hoped the organizing committees of the two countries and relevant departments would improve coordination to ensure the cultural programs full success.

The Chinese president also hailed China-Russia relations, saying that China is ready to further pragmatic cooperation with Russia and try to score new progress in cooperation on economy, trade, energy, science and technology.

Hu also expressed his hope that the two countries would upgrade their strategic cooperative partnership to a new level through closer cooperation in regional and international affairs and jointly safeguard world and regional peace, stability and development.

In response, Medvedev said Russia-China relations are currently at a high level with vibrant cooperation in economy, trade and cultural areas and the two also share many consensus on key international issues.

He said he believed that the Cultural Year programs to be held in the next two years would be successful.