Xi, Putin to meet at G20 Summit

MOSCOW -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the Leaders' Summit of the Group of Twenty to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, in early September and will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the summit.

That was learned from a meeting between visiting Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held here Thursday and was hailed as a major event for the latter half of the year in the course of Sino-Russian relations.

China reiterates full support for Russia to hold a successful summit, and pledges it will go all out to cooperate closely with Russia over the summit to this end, said sources from the meeting.

The G20, established in September 1999, groups 20 major economies of the world, including 19 countries and the European Union. It is the premier forum for international cooperation on the most important issues of the global economic and financial agenda.

Russia assumed the G20 rotating presidency for the first time on December1, 2012. The G20 Leaders'Summit this year will be held in St. Petersburg on September5-6, according to a statement posted at the official website of the G20.