On the evening of June 7, 2018, the welcome reception in honor of the delegation of Russian friendly personages and veterans’ relatives was successfully held in the Peace Palace of the CPAFFC. Chen Yuan, President of the China-Russia Friendship Association and former CPPCC Vice Chairman, Li Xiaolin, CPAFFC President, Dmitry Mezentsev, Chairman of the Russia-China Friendship Association and Chairman of Russia’s Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, and Evgeny Opasov, Vice Chairman of the Russia-China Friendship Association and Head of the Association of Veterans of the WWII and Military Service of Russia, attended the reception.

Chen Yuan, President of the China-Russia Friendship Association and former CPPCC Vice Chairman, delivers a speech

Chen Yuan and Li Xiaolin addressed the reception. On behalf of the China-Russia Friendship Association and the CPAFFC respectively, they welcomed the new and old Russian friends from afar, and thanked them for their important contributions to the China-Russia friendship over the years. They also stressed that President Putin would soon pay his first state visit to China in his new term as president. The two associations felt honored to receive the friendly personages of the two countries and relatives of the Russian veterans to participate in the people-to-people and cultural activities in the framework of the high-level visit, which reflected not only the two governments’ care and attention to the people-to-people friendship between the two countries and their trust and support to the two associations, but also the two associations’ active engagement in promoting the China-Russia relations at the people’s level.

More than 70 people, including the leaders and representatives of the China-Russia Friendship Association and the Russia-China Friendship Association and relatives of the Russian veterans, attended the reception. China Philharmonic Male Choir and Chinese Soprano You Hongfei gave a wonderful performance which was warmly welcomed with friendly atmosphere. The reception served as a great warm-up for President Putin’s upcoming visit to China.

CPAFFC President Li Xiaolin delivers a speech

Performance

Group photo

Photographed by Ren Xin