Russian President Vladimir Putin Arrived In Shanghai To Participate In APEC Summit To Hold Several Bilateral Meetings Friday

Russian President Vladimir Putin who arrived in Shanghai to participate in the APEC summit will hold several bilateral meetings on Friday with foreign leaders as part of the forum. The Russian President is to get acquainted with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri as she has taken this post not long ago, a spokesman for the Kremlin administration told RIA Novosti. According to the spokesman, they will discuss the Russian-Indonesian trade and economic relations, military-technical cooperation and international issues including the situation in the Asia-Pacific region and cooperation in the APEC. Inter-regional cooperation and prospects for military-technical cooperation are on the agenda of the Shanghai meeting of Vladimir Putin and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Kuala Lumpur assigns priority to cooperation with Russia, in particular in the sphere of high technologies, the spokesman noted. He made it clear the matter concerned possible use of Russian space technologies, launching Malaysian satellites, cooperation in the sphere of information technologies. Vladimir Putin's meeting with Mexican President Vincente Fox will focus on the prospects of Russia-APEC interaction taking into account that in 2002 Mexico is to replace China presiding in this forum, the Kremlin spokesman said. The Russian President's meeting with the President of South Korea Kim Dae-jung will focus on the situation in the Korean Peninsula and on further development of Russian-Korean economic cooperation, the RIA Novosti's source noted. Vladimir Putin and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai are expected to discuss economic cooperation, in particular in the military sphere. As is known, the other day Moscow announced its decision to liquidate the military base in the Vietnamese port of Cam Ranh. But, of course, the withdrawal of the Russian servicemen from the base does not mean decrease in the interaction level between our countries, the Russian President stressed.