BEIJING — China and Russia pledged to strengthen cooperation along the Yangtze and Volga rivers at a virtual meeting of the chairmen of the Council of Cooperation between the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Volga Federal District, which was held on June 7.

State Councilor Wang Yong and Igor Komarov, Russia's Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Volga Federal District, both spoke positively of the new progress under the "Yangtze-Volga" mechanism. They agreed to promote the council mechanism to make new contributions to deepening the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and consolidate friendship between the two peoples.

Wang suggested that the two regions further tap the potential for cooperation, enrich the connotation of cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and continuously consolidate and elevate the level of cooperation under new circumstances.

For his part, Komarov said Russia is ready to work with China to expand and deepen cooperation and exchanges, so as to bring bilateral cooperation to a new level.