Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday held a trilateral summit meeting, the first of its kind among the three countries.

The summit was held after the conclusion of the outreach session of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg. The three leaders exchanged views on cooperation among the three countries, according to Chinese officials.

At the summit, Hu said the three countries with established bilateral strategic partnerships among them, have vital influence on international and regional affairs.

There is a great potential for the three countries to cooperate in a number of fields such as economy, energy, science and technology, Hu said.

"We should make full use of these advantages to deepen the strategic cooperation among us," Hu was quoted as saying by Chinese officials.

Hu highlighted important features of their relationship and put forward proposals for boosting trilateral cooperation, including:

• to make full use of the mechanism of trilateral foreign ministers' meeting and push forward practical cooperation;
• to enhance communication and coordination on major international and regional issues, uphold multilateralism and push forward the approach of resolving disputes through negotiation and dialogue;
• the trilateral cooperation is aimed at enhancing friendship, seeking common development and safeguarding world and regional peace.

Putin said that Russia, China and India share similar views on and interests in major international and regional issues. Further, the three nations support the multilateral framework and they have good bilateral relations.

Enhancing trilateral cooperation would not only facilitate the settlement of some international and regional issues, but also help to promote domestic economic development in the three countries, Putin added.

Singh said the three nations should make concerted efforts to enhance their trilateral cooperation, for the benefit of their peoples as well as to contribute to peace and development in the region and the world.

The three leaders also exchanged views on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, their cooperation on fighting terrorism and cracking down on cross-border crimes.

During another meeting between Hu and Putin, the two leaders exchanged views on deepening bilateral ties as well as major international and regional issues.

Hu congratulated Putin on successfully hosting the outreach session of the G8 summit, saying that the meeting is of crucial significance to the facilitation of relations between developed and developing countries, promotion of multilateralism and in tackling common global challenges.

Putin said Hu had contributed a lot to the outreach session of the G8 summit, adding that Hu's participation is of great importance to the summit.

Hu and Putin called for more cooperation in energy between the two countries.

The two presidents also discussed the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, calling for an early resumption of six-party talks.

According to Chinese officials, after the outreach session, Hu on Monday afternoon also met with French President Jacques Chirac, and newly elected Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2006)