Russian leader Putin arrives in China for Belt and Road Forum

African and Southeast Asian leaders will also be among representatives from more than 130 countries and 30 international organisations expected to gather for the two-day event beginning on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement.

In a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday morning, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “We are interested to seeing the 3rd international Belt and Road Forum be successful and we are confident that will be the case.”

Lavrov said he was “very happy” to be discussing the international agenda and other issues “that are necessary to prepare meetings between our leaders”.

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More than 150 countries and 30 international organisations are currently on board, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

“We believe in merging our vision of creating a Greater Eurasian space with the idea of our Chinese friends as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, and we have been quite good at synchronising our efforts,” Putin said at the time, adding that the strategy “fully meets and coincides” with Russia’s interests.

“Cooperation between Russia and the People’s Republic of China is, of course, a very important factor stabilising the world,” he said. “It is aimed exclusively at achieving a positive result both for us – Russia and China – and for our partners around the world.”

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Chinese President Xi Jinping last met Putin when he travelled to Moscow for a three-day state visit in March. The two leaders then held a series of formal talks on matters including the war in Ukraine.

Sources told the Post that leaders of China’s strategic partners in Southeast Asia and Africa, such as Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, will also attend the forum.

Italy remains the only Group of Seven country to have signed up to the project, but its current far-right administration led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has criticised the scheme as ineffective and hinted at withdrawing when a five-year memorandum of understanding expires in March.