On the afternoon of May 15, 2007, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with visiting Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Chairman Boris Gryzlov at the Great Hall of the People.

Hu said currently the strategic cooperative partnership between China and Russia has entered a new phase and it is the common responsibility and mission of the two countries to consolidate the achieved results and guarantee the steady development of bilateral ties. China is ready to work with Russia to take the opportunity of hosting national theme years in each country to enhance good-neighborly friendship, strengthen pragmatic cooperation and jointly push forward China-Russia strategic cooperative partnership.

Hu also called on the two legislatures to give full play to their functional features and advantages, continue to consolidate the legal foundation of bilateral cooperation and supervise the implementation of agreements between the two sides, in a bid to provide legal guarantee and support for bilateral cooperation on politics, economy, trade and humanities. Hu urged both sides to tap to the full the features and advantages of parliament members in broad representativeness and abundant expertise and steadily advance multi-facet, multi-area friendly exchanges, to help transmit China-Russia friendship from generation to generation.

Gryzlov said currently bilateral ties have developed to an unprecedented level. Russia is ready to work with China to promote practical cooperation in all fields to bring greater benefits to both peoples. The Russian State Duma will offer support and assistance for the "Year of China" to ensure the event a great success, Gryzlov said, expressing hope that the event will help push bilateral ties to a higher level.

Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Sheng Huaren and other officials attended the meeting.