Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, arrived in China on Wednesday for a four-day visit that will see him attend a BRIC summit and push for Russia's economic integration into the Asia Pacific region.
Ahead of Wednesday's BRIC summit, Medvedev will meet separately with the leaders of the other member nations - China, Brazil, India and South Africa, which recently joined the organization.
Trade ties and closer cooperation in energy, space and high technology are expected to be the main topics for discussion in the bilateral talks.
The summit itself will focus on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the consequences for the future of nuclear power generation after the disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Medvedev will then attend the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference on April 14-16 in Boao, Hainan.
Medvedev's participation is "designed to expand the economic cooperation agenda for the BRIC partners," and "will expedite Russia's economic integration into the integration processes unfolding in the Asia Pacific region," presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said on Monday.
Other heads of state and government due to attend the BFA conference include Chinese President Hu Jintao, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, South African President Jacob Zuma, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.
MOSCOW, April 13 (RIA Novosti)
