On April 29, 2016, when jointly meeting the press with visiting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia after their talks, Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed that the people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation are an important highlight in China-Russia relations and serve as the foundation for the long-term development of bilateral relations.
Wang Yi expressed that the two Foreign Ministers agreed that both sides will further deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation on the existing basis, especially exchanges and cooperation in major fields such as youth, tourism and media. In recent years, China and Russia have continuously launched the "Year of Russia" in China, the "Year of China" in Russia, the "Year of Chinese Language" in Russia, and the "Year of Russian Language" in China, China-Russia Tourism Year and China-Russia Youth Friendly Exchange Year and other thematic activities. Currently, both sides are hosting the China-Russia Media Exchange Year with more than 280 important events. Friends from the media will play a leading role in the development of China-Russia relations from 2016 to 2017. It is hoped that media friends of both sides will carry out in-depth friendly exchanges and cooperation and work together to contribute ideas and efforts to deepening China-Russia traditional friendship and promoting cooperation in all fields.