Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi met on the sidelines of a meeting of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Foreign Ministers’ Council in Tashkent to discuss the organization’s prospects and the Ukraine situation, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, TASS reports.
"The heads of the Russian and Chinese foreign policy agencies exchanged opinions on the key aspects of the activity of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the prospects of its further development, including the issues of modernizing the association and raising its prestige on the international scene. They stressed the SCO’s leading role in building regional security architecture and noted the organization’s substantial constructive contribution to the process of maintaining peace and stability and ensuring economic development in Eurasia," the statement reads.
"The sides exchanged assessments of the current situation in and around Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The Russian and Chinese foreign ministers discussed in detail the issues of preparing for the upcoming meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State, it said.
The heads of the diplomatic agencies of Russia and China "positively assessed the current state of the Russian-Chinese relations that continue developing dynamically amid the uneasy geopolitical situation," the statement reads.
"They paid special attention to the pace of implementing the accords reached by the leaders of both countries. They discussed some issues of bilateral practical cooperation," it added.
The Russian and Chinese top diplomats also discussed "some pressing issues of the regional and international agenda, including integration processes in Central Asia and the situation in Afghanistan," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The Russian and Chinese foreign ministers reaffirmed their readiness to build up interaction and coordination within the framework of multilateral formats with the participation of both countries, it said.
"The talk was held in a traditional trustworthy and constructive atmosphere," the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.
