BEIJING, March 17 (RIA Novosti) - A center has opened in Beijing to provide informational support for the Year of Russia in China, a series of cultural, economic and other events designed to promote bilateral exchanges.
The center will host press conferences, briefings, video conferences between Beijing and Moscow and other Russian cities, as well as presentations, round tables, and photography exhibitions.
Cultural and political figures will take part in events organized at the center, which will also issue regular bulletins.
President Vladimir Putin will visit China March 21-22 to launch the Year of Russia in China. The program will be followed by the Year of China in Russia, which Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to hold during a meeting in Beijing in October 2004.
Putin's upcoming visit is the latest sign of increasing rapprochement between two of the world's largest countries. The Chinese ambassador to Moscow recently said the latest figures on the booming tourist trade showed the number of Chinese tourists in Russia for the first time surpassed one million, and some 2,150,000 Russians visited China, up from 690,000 in 1998.
