of the People's Republic of China met a delegation led by Anatoly Alekseevich Ledovskikh, Minister of the Russian Federal Department of Geology and Mineral Resources. President Zhou Zhongshu and Wang Jionghui, Assistant President of Minmetals and General Manager of Minmetals Exploration & Development, accompanied at the meeting.

At the meeting, Minister Xu highlighted the longstanding friendly cooperation between China and Russia, saying that since the end of the last century, the two countries have witnessed constantly deeper friendship, rapidly enhanced cooperation, more frequent high-level mutual visits, and increasing trade volumes. According to him, cooperation between China and Russia is well underway, and the agreements between China Geological Survey and the Russian Federal Department of Geology and Mineral Resources are smoothly implemented. Russia had a vast territory and abundant natural resources. It had extensive experience in the exploration, development and management of mineral resources. China should learn from such experience. The Land and Resources of the People's Republic of China is more than happy to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Russian Federal Department of Geology and Mineral Resources. Finally, he expressed his heartfelt welcome to the visit by the Russian side.

Mr. Anatoly Alekseevich Ledovskikh expressed his thanks to the Land and Resources of the People's Republic of China for its boundless hospitality and considerate arrangements. He said, the cooperation between the two sides is not only conducive to the communication and exchanges between government authorities of both sides, but will also help promote cooperation between companies of the two countries. Finally, he showed confidence in the success of this meeting and in his visit to China over the next few days.

His view was shared by Minister Xu, who said that the cooperation between the Ministry of Land and Resources of the People's Republic of China and Russian Federal Department of Geology and Mineral Resources requires active participation and friendly interaction from enterprises of both parties. Therefore, China BTM Group Corporation is invited as a representative of excellent enterprises to the meeting to deepen exchanges and enhance cooperation between the two sides.

At the welcome banquet, President Zhou and Mr. Anatoly Alekseevich Ledovskikh had friendly talks. President Zhou said, as the largest integrated service provider of metals and mineral products in China, BTM Group looked forward to cooperation between BTM Group and the Russian Federal Department of Geology and Mineral Resources; according to President Zhou, many projects are being carried out by BTM Group in Russia at present. It was hoped that greater support and assistance would be provided by the Russian side in the future.

Minister Anatoly Alekseevich Ledovskikh expressed his willingness to provide more opportunities and better platforms for BTM Group and Russian mining enterprises to work together in a manner conducive to their common development.