Wrapping up his three-day visit to Russia, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with President Vladimir Putin.

The two leaders met at the Kremlin where they discussed efforts to boost growing trade between the two countries.

CGTN’s Aljosa Milenkovic reports from Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Russia’s most famous building – the Kremlin. Officials on both sides are optimistic about expanding economic cooperation at a time when China and the U.S. are engaged in a trade war.

Last year, bilateral trade between China and Russia reportedly exceeded $100 billion. Russia hopes to double that by 2024.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia said that “We know how much you did, dear mister Premier, and how much was done by the President of the Peoples Republic of China, Xi Jinping, for development of Russia – China relations in recent times, in the recent years. We highly appreciate that.”

“I would like to underscore that in the past decades we have come a long way in the history of our bilateral cooperation. Today we are strategic partners in the full sense of that word and we maintain our comprehensive cooperation. It’s an unconditional priority of Russian foreign policies.”

Putin congratulated what he referred to as his Chinese “friends” in recognition of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-Russia diplomatic ties.

Li, in his address, focused on the importance of collaboration between the two countries.

“China and Russia are the largest neighboring countries. It is very important for us to further strengthen friendship, cooperation, and interconnections, so that in the future we make common efforts to ensure the world order under the auspices of the UN and maintain a free trade system based on WTO rules, which is very important for the development of stability and security of the world,” Li said.

“Our cooperation contributes not only to the development of our countries but to the development of the region and the whole world, especially in the context of growing instability and uncertainty in the region and in world economy.”

The meeting with Putin came after a two-day visit to Saint Petersburg where the two sides reached a number of agreements. One of them a decision to form a joint network of satellites that will provide global access to the internet.

China-Russia relations are seeing their best period in history. This is something frequently mentioned in Russia, and hardly anybody disputes it. According to some, relations have strengthened due to necessity, while others say that it is the only possible, rational way forward for both countries.