Lavrov: Russia, China intend to move towards “multipolar" world order

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov affirmed Thursday his country's keenness on the steady and continuous development of relations with China, noting that the two countries intend to move forward towards “a multipolar, fair, and democratic world order.”

Lavrov has arrived in the Chinese city of Tunxi to participate in the third Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan’s Neighboring Countries.

At a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the Russian minister expressed that Moscow is "interested in our relations with China developing steadily and consistently, our leaders - President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin and President [of China] Xi Jinping agreed upon this."

He indicated that "Today, as you have said, we will consider concrete steps to ensure that all those agreements are consistently implemented."

For his part, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Russian-Chinese relations "have withstood new tests by changes in the international situation, maintained the right direction, and demonstrated a solid development trend."

Wang pointed out that "The desire of the two sides to develop bilateral relations has become even stronger, so did the confidence to promote cooperation in various directions."

In a joint statement issued following the meeting, the two ministers "stated that in light of the challenging international situation, Russia and China continue to strengthen their strategic partnership and speak with a unified voice in global affairs."

"It was agreed to further bolster foreign policy coordination, enhance cooperation on the bilateral track as well as in various multilateral formats," the statement read.