Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) attend the opening ceremony for the Year of Russia in China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing March 21.

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia held a grand ceremony here Tuesday in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, making a high-profile commencement of the Year of Russia in China.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the ceremony with numbers of high-ranking officialsof the two countries.

Delivering a speech at the ceremony, Hu said the Year of Russiain China and the Year of China in Russia, which was scheduled in 2007, were major steps that the two countries set to deepen friendship, enhance cooperation and promote the China-Russia strategic partnership of cooperation.

"China and Russia are friendly neighbors which are connected byrivers and mountains and the friendship between the two countries had a long history," Hu said.

The Chinese people would not forget Russia's help during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), he noted. "Many courageous Russian people have sacrificed their precious lives on the Chinese land."

Hu also expressed appreciation to Russia for its assistance to the People's Republic of China after it was founded in 1949.

"The friendship, which was forged and consolidated with blood and sincerity, will be engraved deeply at the hearts of the two peoples and becomes an important source of strength to boost the development of bilateral ties."

Hu also hailed the 10-year-old China-Russia strategic partnership of cooperation, saying that such a relationship has turned over a new page of China-Russia ties.

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