Wang Yi and Lavrov meet in Baku: China readout cites APEC in Shenzhen and new consensus on leader-level contacts

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in Baku on 14 October, according to a readout published by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The two held talks on the margins of the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, and agreed new points on contacts between the two leaderships, the ministry said.

The account comes from the Chinese side only. It does not say what the “new consensus” on the next stage of high-level exchanges consists of, and it gives no date for any future meeting between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

What the readout says

According to the ministry, Wang congratulated Russia on the State Duma election and on the conclusion of what he called an important domestic political agenda. He recalled that Xi and Putin held meetings in May and August this year, which he said were steering the China-Russia partnership to sustained high-level development.

Wang then turned to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation calendar. The APEC leaders’ meeting will take place in Shenzhen next month, and the readout says Beijing believes the “China Year” of APEC will produce results with support from Russia and other parties.

On the summit that brought the ministers to the Azerbaijani capital, the readout says Wang described the Eurasian continent as a region whose countries want peace and stability. China, he said, is ready to work with CICA members including Russia “to practice true multilateralism” and to improve global governance. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the gathering that admitted Laos and adopted the Baku Declaration, as reported earlier on Geopolitiki.

Lavrov’s part

The readout attributes to Lavrov a statement that Russia and China have continued to advance bilateral relations across various fields under the guidance of the two presidents. It says he told Wang that Russia fully supports China in hosting the APEC leaders’ meeting, and that the two countries hold similar positions on international affairs. He also spoke of strengthening coordination within the United Nations, the G20, APEC and BRICS.

The ministry adds that the ministers exchanged views on international and regional hotspot issues of common concern and coordinated their positions. It does not name the issues. This account rests on China’s readout alone, and the statements attributed to both ministers are as the ministry reported them.

Wang held several other meetings in Baku. Geopolitiki has also covered his talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, in which, according to the same ministry, the Belt and Road, the Middle Corridor and COP31 featured.