Beijing: China and Russia on August 22 signed a joint communique supporting each other in the crackdown on terrorism in Xinjiang and Chechnya and took steps to implement a landmark bilateral treaty signed last year.

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kasyanov, who met in the east China metropolis, Shanghai for the seventh regular meeting of the two countries' Prime Ministers, hailed the treaty signed by Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16, 2001.

"The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views and reached wide consensus on the implementation of Sino-Russian good-neighbourly treaty of friendship and co- operation, the expansion of co-operation in politics, economies and trade, science and technology as well as some major international issues," a comminque said.

The two leaders described the treaty as a document "of strategic importance for promoting the sustained and steady growth of bilateral ties".

Both sides agreed to jointly implement all articles of the treaty so as to make new progress in enhancing all-round concrete co-operation and strategic co-ordination, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The two sides reiterated their determination to continue supporting each other on safeguarding state sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

PTI