Premier Li Keqiang arrived in St Petersburg on Sept 16 for an official visit to Russia, and will co-chair the 24th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government.

Premier Li, accompanied by his wife Cheng Hong and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, was welcomed by Vice-Premiers Sun Chunlan and Hu Chunhua who arrived earlier for the regular meeting, and Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui, at St Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport.

After receiving a grand welcome ceremony, Premier Li, accompanied by senior Russian government officials, inspected the guard of honor.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-Russia diplomatic ties, Premier Li said. President Xi Jinping's successful visit to Russia earlier this year elevated the bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, embarking on a new stage for higher level and greater development, he said.

He expressed the hope this regular meeting will achieve new results in promoting bilateral all-round pragmatic cooperation, further enriching the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, and better benefiting two peoples.

The Premier said with the complex global situation and downward-moving world economy, China is willing to strengthen cooperation in international affairs with Russia, jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade and make contributions to improving global governance, building up an open global economy, securing regional and even global peace, development and prosperity together.

During the meeting, Premier Li will co-chair the regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government, sign joint communiques, witness the signing of bilateral cooperation documents and meet the press with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He will also meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.