On the evening of March 24, 2008, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov held talks over the telephone, exchanging views on advancing bilateral ties and promoting high-level exchanges. Yang and Lavrov expressed satisfaction with the China-Russia strategic cooperative partnership. Both officials hoped the two countries will further enhance high-level exchanges to deepen bilateral cooperation in all areas and ensure a steady, healthy and high-level development of the partnership.