Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday pledged to continue to advance their countries' bilateral relations.

The presidents met on the sidelines of the 17th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders Meeting.

Hu put forward a four-point proposal on continuously advancing bilateral relations between China and Russia.

First, Hu said, the two countries should exchange views and coordinate stances in a timely manner on major issues of common concern when making high-level contacts.

Second, Hu said, the two countries should seize opportunities created by the world economic recovery to strengthen their pragmatic cooperation, especially in natural gas and nuclear energy.

That cooperation would be based upon the principle of win-win situation and mutual benefit, Hu said, and would also implement the consensus reached at the regular prime minister meeting.

Third, Hu said, China and Russia should cooperate closely to hold a high-level and characteristic "Chinese Language Year" in Russia next year in an effort to promote cultural exchanges.

Fourth, Hu said, China and Russia should deepen their coordination on international affairs, work together to create favorable external conditions for their development and contribute to building a more equitable and rational international order.

Moreover, the Chinese president said, they should give full play to the China-Russia strategic security consultation mechanism and strengthen coordination on major regional and international issues.

Hu also emphasized that APEC is an important platform for both China and Russia to participate in regional cooperation.

Noting that Russia would host the 2012 APEC summit, Hu said China would actively support efforts to make the meeting a success. He said China was ready to work with Russia to advance healthy development of APEC.

Medvedev said that leaders of both countries have had frequent meetings during which many substantial agreements on the development of bilateral ties were reached.

He hailed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's recent visit to China to attend the 14th regular prime minister meeting as fruitful. He said that celebratory activities marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Russia, as well as the event of "Russian Language Year" in China, were also very successful.

Medvedev stressed that those events helped inject new impetus to Russia-China cooperation.

He said the two nations should maintain high-level contacts, strengthen communications and coordination on bilateral and multilateral occasions, increase strategic security consultation and safeguard the national security of both countries.

They should also expand their cooperation in energy, and strive to ensure the success of the "Chinese Language Year" in Russia in 2010, he said.

The Russian president expressed willingness to strengthen bilateral coordination and cooperation with China within the framework of the G20, APEC, "BRIC" and Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The two leaders also exchanged views on the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula.