Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay a state visit to Russia from June 15 to 18, he will meet his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev and attend the World Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, said Friday the Kremlin press service.
“The events planned in the framework of the visit will take place to mark the 10th anniversary of Russo-Chinese treaty on good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation,” marked in a press release issued by the Presidential Administration of Russia.
According to the Chinese ambassador to Russia, President Hu and Medvedev will discuss the North Korean nuclear issue during a meeting in Moscow before attending the international economic forum in Saint Petersburg.
Launched in 2003, the six-party talks (China, both Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia) are intended to bring Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for humanitarian aid and other concessions. Their initial results were encouraging, but in May 2009, North Korea tested a nuclear explosive, which has forced the Security Council to tighten UN sanctions previously imposed against Pyongyang. In response, the latter withdrew from the negotiations.
In March 2011, North Korean media have reported that Pyongyang was ready to resume six-party talks “without preconditions”. The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, described the news as “positive signal”.