Premier Li Keqiang meets with Russian officials during the 21st China-Russia Prime Ministers' Regular Meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia on Nov 7, 2016. Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn

The two sides should also enhance people-to-people exchanges, and strengthen the cooperation in science and technology and education to prepare well for the 2016-2017 China-Russia Media Exchange Year, Premier Li said.

Hailing the friendship between China and Russia, Medvedev noted that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination and the 15th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.

Both sides have taken this opportunity to maintain high-level operation of their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, and support each other under multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations, the G20, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS.

The economic cooperation between the two countries has deepened and our trade structures optimized, Medvedev noted.

He said Russia cherishes its friendly cooperation with China, and is willing to implement consensus reached by both sides and fully promote pragmatic cooperation in all fields.

Besides gas, civil nuclear power and other large-scale projects, Russia is also ready to expand cooperation with China in finance, agriculture, science and technology, aviation, high-speed railway and people-to-people exchanges, Medvedev added.

He also called for strengthened bilateral cooperation in international affairs to jointly cope with global challenges.

Premier Li and his Russian counterpart also listened to work reports from four bilateral cooperation mechanisms on people-to-people exchanges, regular prime ministers' meeting, investment and energy cooperation. Both sides exchanged opinions on future cooperation plans.

Vice-Premiers Liu Yandong and Wang Yang also attended the meeting.