On November 29, 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a briefing for Chinese and foreign media on Premier Wen Jiabao's attendance of the 11th Prime Ministers' Meeting of the SCO Member States and the 17th Regular Meeting between Chinese and Russian Prime Ministers and his official visits to Kyrgyzstan and Russia. Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping gave a briefing to the media.

I. Premier Wen Jiabao's Attendance of the 11th Prime Ministers' Meeting of the SCO Member States

Cheng said that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was established for the purpose of safeguarding regional security and stability and promoting common development and prosperity of SCO member states. Since its founding 11 years ago, SCO has maintained a momentum of healthy and stable development and has become a constructive force playing an important role in shaping the geopolitical landscape in the Eurasian region. The strategic mutual trust and collaboration between member states continues to deepen. Mutual support on major core issues concerning independence, sovereignty and keeps increasing. In terms of security, member states have maintained close communication on major issues concerning the long-term stability of the region and have made constant efforts to improve the cooperation mechanism for the joint handling of emergencies in the region; member states have effectively combated and deterred the "three evil forces", drug trafficking and transnational organized crimes and have properly handled the negative impact brought about by unstable and uncertain factors outside the region. On the economic front, member states have earnestly implemented the Program on Multilateral Economic and Trade Cooperation and have launched a number of pragmatic cooperation projects; member states have made steady progress in the cooperation in finance, transportation, energy, agriculture, customs, high-tech and other areas, injecting new impetus to rapid economic development of member states. After 11 years of development, the trade scale between member states has expanded rapidly; the trade structure has been further optimized; mutual investment has increased substantially; economic ties have been strengthened; the economic proportion of member states in the world economy has risen rapidly. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is likely to become one of the world's fastest growing and most dynamic regions. In addition, the people-to-people and cultural cooperation continues to deepen; the people-to-people exchanges become increasingly frequent; the traditional friendship and cooperation has been further consolidated; the cooperation in the fields of youth, health, culture, education, emergency relief, and other related areas has witnessed significant achievements, laying a solid foundation for long-term development of the organization. The external exchanges get increasingly active. SCO has carried out close cooperation with observer states and dialogue partners. The centripetal force and influence of SCO have been growing constantly.

Cheng stressed that the current international and regional situation gets increasingly complicated and the downside risks for the world economy are accumulating. These factors bring new challenges to the stability and development of member states and also set higher requirements on the organization. The Prime Ministers' Meeting is timely and significant meeting, during which the prime ministers will comprehensively review the progress of cooperation in various fields over the past year and analyze the situation facing the development of the organization. They, based on the implementation of the consensus reached at the Beijing Summit, will make arrangements and plans for the next-step work of the organization so as to deepen pragmatic cooperation in the organization, promote rapid economic development of member states, boost their confidence, enhance the cohesion of the organization and improve the ability of member states to fend off risks.

Cheng said that the meeting will invite prime ministers of SCO member states, leaders of SCO observer states (Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran, India and Afghanistan) and leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Community. By tradition, the meeting consists of small-scale meeting for prime ministers of SCO member states, the large-scale meeting for participating leaders, the document signing ceremony, and a joint session with the media. According to the discussions, the Prime Ministers' Meeting is expected to achieve the following results: first, to approve the list of measures for further developing project activities within the SCO (2012-2016) and promote multilateral cooperation projects with the participation of multiple parties and benefiting all participating parties; second, to witness the signing of the Memorandum of the SCO Member States on Strengthening Cooperation in the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights and upgrade the level of customs cooperation. The prime ministers will discuss and develop concrete measures to further deepen economic and cultural cooperation of the SCO member states. A joint communique will be issued after the meeting. Premier Wen Jiabao will make a comprehensive summary of the outcome of pragmatic cooperation within SCO since its establishment and propose long-term and targeted cooperation initiatives based on the implementation of the consensus reached at Beijing Summit. During the meeting, Premier Wen will hold bilateral meetings with leaders of relevant countries.

Cheng expressed the belief that the joint efforts of all parties, the meeting will be a complete success and will inject strong impetus to the stability and development of the organization and the region.

II. The 17th Regular Meeting between Chinese and Russian Prime Ministers and Premier Wen's Official Visit to Russia

Cheng said that Premier Wen's visit to Russia is the first visit by a Chinese state leader since the eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is also the first regular prime ministers' meeting for Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev since he took office. Therefore it is a very important meeting between the past and the future. China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination has witnessed a more positive momentum of development since the beginning of this year. President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to China in less than a month since he took office. During their meeting in Beijing, the two heads of state identified the principles, direction and priority areas for China-Russia cooperation in the coming years and led bilateral relations into a new phase of "being important development opportunities for each other and being major priority partners of each other". The two sides rendered each other firm support on matters concerning each other's core interests such as sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. Cooperation in trade, energy, science & technology, local exchanges, culture, people-to-people exchanges and other areas continued to progress. A number of strategic cooperation projects are being implemented or discussed. From January to October this year, the bilateral trade amounted to $73.6 billion, a year-on-year growth of 13.4%. This is a hard-won result especially in the context of current unfavorable world economic situation. The two sides worked in closer coordination on international affairs, safeguarded the common interests, upheld the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the basic norms of international laws, and promoted peace, security and stability of the region and the world. Since its inception in 1996, the regular prime ministers' meeting mechanism, as an important mechanism for the two governments to plan, guide and promote bilateral cooperation in a holistic approach, has played an irreplaceable role in advancing the development of China-Russia relations.

Cheng said that during the regular prime ministers' meeting and Premier Wen's official visit to Russia, the two sides will focus the discussion on the implementation of the important consensus reached by the two heads of state in Beijing this year, further deepen political mutual trust and the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries and push for new progress in strategic projects and cooperation in people-to-people exchanges and other areas. During his visit to Russia, Premier Wen will meet with President Vladimir Putin and hold talks with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Traditionally, the meeting of the Committee of China-Russia Prime Ministers' Regular Meeting, China-Russia Energy Negotiation Representatives' Meeting and the Meeting of the China-Russia Cultural Cooperation Committee will precede the prime ministers' regular meeting.

China hopes to achieve the following expected outcome through this visit: first, to make a comprehensive review of the results and experiences achieved by the regular prime ministers' meeting in the past 10 years and have an in-depth exchange of views on further promoting bilateral relations in the new situation; second, to continue to enhance political mutual trust and consolidate mutual support to each other on matters involving core interests of each other; third, to push for new progress in pragmatic cooperation in various fields, give priority to the expansion of mutual investment, deepen mutually-beneficial cooperation in the fields of oil, gas, and nuclear energy, promote cooperation in the fields of high-tech, innovation, finance and local exchanges, and conduct more big projects of strategic importance such as joint development and joint production projects; fourth, to deepen cultural exchanges and cooperation, organize a successful "Year of Chinese Tourism" event in Russia next year, strengthen the regular youth exchanges and consolidate the social basis of bilateral relations; fifth, to strengthen communication and coordination on major international and regional issues of common concern and work together to defend the outcome of World War II and the post-war order and safeguard international fairness and justice. During the visit, the two prime ministers will sign and issue the Joint Communique of the 17th Regular Meeting between Chinese and Russian Prime Ministers and government agencies, related departments and enterprises of the two countries will sign a number of important documents on bilateral cooperation.

Cheng expressed the belief that the 17th Regular Meeting between Chinese and Russian Prime Ministers will be a smooth and successful meeting with the concerted efforts of both sides and it will further promote the sustained, healthy and stable development of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination.

III. Premier Wen's Visit to Kyrgyzstan

Cheng said that Kyrgyzstan is a friendly neighbor of China. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992, bilateral relations have maintained sustained, healthy and stable development. The two sides have maintained close high-level exchanges, political mutual trust has been increasing, and cooperation in security, economy, culture and other fields has been expanding. The two sides have maintained close communication and coordination on international and regional issues and have carried out good cooperation within the framework of the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Kyrgyzstan and bilateral relations are facing important opportunities for development. Premier Wen's visit to Kyrgyzstan is a major event for China-Kyrgyzstan relations this year and it is therefore of great significance to deepening the mutually beneficial cooperation and promoting the development of good-neighborly and friendly relations and cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan.

During the visit, Premier Wen Jiabao will meet with President Almazbek Atambayev and Prime Minister Zhantoro Satybaldiyev. The two sides will jointly review and summarize the outcome of the development of bilateral relations since the two countries established diplomatic relations 20 years ago and have an in-depth exchange of views on further consolidating political mutual trust, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation and international and regional issues of common concern. During the visit, the two sides will also sign a series of documents covering pragmatic cooperation.

Cheng Guoping concluded with the belief that with the concerted efforts of both sides, Premier Wen's visit to Kyrgyzstan will further promote the comprehensive and in-depth development of the good-neighborly, friendly and cooperative relations between China and Kyrgyzstan.