China, Russia sign border agreement
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-02 16:13

China and Russia signed a final agreement on their shared border, putting an end to 40 years of negotiations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing shakes hands with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov (R)  during their meeting in Vladivostok. China and Russia signed a final agreement on their shared border, putting an end to 40 years of negotiations. [AFP]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing signed and exchanged an addition to their existing accord during talks in Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok.

The addition concerned the eastern end of the joint border, defining two percent of the total 4,300 kilometers (2,700 miles) of the Sino-Russian frontier, stretching through several islands in the Khabarovsk region.

"We are very happy to have exchanged ratification documents by our parliaments regarding our eastern border. This puts an end to a long process of negotiations that had been held for 40 years by our countries," Lavrov said.

In his turn Li called on their audience to "remember this day of June 2, 2005," to stress the historic nature of the accord.

Beijing and Moscow signed their first accord on demarkation of their Far East borders during Russian President Vladimir Putin's October visit to China -- with Putin qualifying the accord as a "vital step forward" as "the total of common border had been legally defined for the first time in the history of Russo-Chinese relations."

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