UPDATE - Chinese, Russian presidents praise bilateral ties at Beijing meeting

CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE; ADDS STATEMENTS FROM RUSSIAN, CHINESE PRESIDENTS; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and his visiting Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday praised bilateral ties amid a meeting on the sidelines of the third international forum of the Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

"In the current difficult conditions, close foreign policy coordination is especially in demand, which is what we are doing, and today we will also discuss all this — everything, including our bilateral relations, above all this," Putin said at the start of his meeting with Xi at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, according to a Kremlin statement.

The Russian president underlined that the initiative Xi proposed a decade ago for broader cooperation between countries on the historical Silk Road had made progress.

Referring to comments by Xi before their meeting on a $200 billion target for bilateral trade turnover this year, he said they already achieved this goal over the past 12 months.

This bar will "definitely be surpassed" again by the end of 2023, added Putin, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for his two-day visit.

This is his second foreign visit since an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest in March 2023, for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

For his part, Xi praised ties between Russia and China, noting that the volume of their bilateral trade had reached an all-time record level.

"The two countries have maintained close and effective strategic coordination and bilateral trade volume has reached a historical high," state-run Xinhua News quoted Xi as saying.

He added that mutual political trust between the two nations are deepening continuously.

Xi and Putin have met 42 times since 2013.

China is hosting the two-day forum, with over 4,000 representatives and officials expected to attend from around 140 nations and 30 international organizations.

Earlier, the Kremlin said Putin would hold talks with Xi and that the issues of "further development of the Russian-Chinese comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation as well as topical regional and international issues will be discussed."

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid and Burc Eruygur