The Chinese National Exhibition, a major event of the Year of China in Russia, opened at the Crocus Expo exhibition center of Moscow on March 27, 2007. Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin attended the opening ceremony and visited the exhibition. The two heads of state spoke highly of the grand event which covers a wide range of areas and expressed hope that the exhibition would become an important platform for strengthening the friendship between the two peoples and promoting the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.
On the square of the Crocus Expo exhibition center the national flags of China and Russia flew in the wind. The Chinese character "Zhan" written in cursive and the beautiful eyes of a Russian girl displayed on the giant poster of the Chinese National Exhibition were especially eye-catching. Painted on the huge salmon pink back board, the majestic and meandering Great Wall symbolizes the long history of ancient China while the landmark architectures of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong showcase the dynamic growth of modern China.
At 12:45 p.m. local time, Hu and Putin arrived at the opening ceremony amid the merry music of welcome for guests and were welcomed warmly by the Chinese and Russian officials, business delegates and local representatives of companies of the two countries.
Hu first delivered a speech amid enthusiastic applause. He extended warm welcome to President Putin and other Russian friends and sincere gratitude for the great support of Russia for China.
He noted that the Chinese National Exhibition in Russia is the largest ever exhibition held abroad in the name of China. It displays to the Russian people the long history and splendid civilization of China, the course of China's reform and opening-up and modernization construction and the fruitful achievements of economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia. The Chinese people were deeply impressed by the Russian National Exhibition held in China November last year, and the Chinese National Exhibition will be an event promoting the traditional friendship between the two peoples and serve as a platform for enhancing the cooperation between the two countries.
Hu stressed that China and Russia are making relentless efforts to promote economic growth and the bilateral pragmatic cooperation in various fields enjoys vigorous dynamism and promising prospects. It is hoped that the two countries make best use of the opportunities of holding the Year of Russia and the Year of China to seek and develop new growth points of bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Whiling expanding the bilateral economic and trade cooperation efforts should be made to enrich the content and raise the level of cooperation, lift the bilateral strategic partnership to new heights and bring benefit to the two peoples.
In his speech Putin said that opening the Chinese National Exhibition in Moscow is a major event as well as the most important activity during the Year of China. The theme of the exhibition - Win-Win Cooperation and Harmonious Development – just matches the current China-Russian strategic partnership. China has always been and remains one of Russia's economic partners. Since 2000 the bilateral cooperation has grown steadily and the bilateral trade volume has increased by 500%.
Putin said that as the largest exhibition held by China in Russia the Chinese National Exhibition would help the Russian people understand China's capabilities of production and technology and the achievements of China's reform and opening up. It will help not only increase the bilateral trade volume but also improve the quality of cooperation.
Later the two heads of state visited the exhibition with great interest. They looked at the models of the Three Gorges Project and Qinghai-Tibet Railway in the comprehensive exhibition area, listened to the introduction of the executives of China FAW Group Corporation, China General Technology Corporation and China National Petroleum Corporation and toured the stalls of Haier and Lenovo in the business exhibition area. They also visited the exhibition area of governmental organizations of tourism, science and technology, information technology and agriculture. In the Chinese information technology exhibition area, the two heads of state signed their names on the commemorative stamped envelope of the Year of China to congratulate the opening of the event. In the Beijing exhibition area, they looked at the models of "Bird's Nest" and "Water Cube", the major facilities for 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and took a group photo in front of the mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Fuwa. In the Inner Mongolia exhibition area, Hu and Putin listened to the introduction about the cooperation of Manzhouli, the largest land port city of China, with Russia.
Before ending the visit, the two heads of state made inscriptions for the Chinese National Exhibition respectively. Hu wrote "Friendship from Generation to Generation and Win-win Cooperation" and Putin wrote "Wish great success to the organizers of and entrepreneurs at this major exhibition and a vivid memory to the visitors."
Vice Premier of the State Council Wu Yi was also present at the above activities.
The four-day exhibition in Moscow, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of China, covers more than 30 industries including energy, machine manufacturing, automobile and home appliances, and more than 15,000 kinds of products and nearly 1,000 pictures were displayed in an area of 20,000 square meters.
On the same day, Wu Yi and Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev attended the signing ceremony of cooperation documents between the businesses of China and Russia.