MOSCOW. July 6 (Interfax) - China's Emergency Management Ministry is interested in cooperation with the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry on education, medical support, and fire and rescue sporting events, Chinese Emergency Management Minister Wang Xiangxi said at a meeting with Russian Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov.
"China displayed an interest in cooperation at the level of educational institutions and in developing interaction in the fields of medical support, fire and rescue sport, and on borders," , the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said on Thursday.
Kurenkov supported the proposals, it said.
"Our countries are actively developing partnership in all areas. The length of the Russian-Chinese border and a broad range of natural and man-made dangers relevant to both states certainly require close interaction between our agencies," the ministry quoted Kurenkov as saying at the meeting with Wang.
The parties highlighted the importance of exchanging information, the ministry said. "Regularly exchanging information [...] on the risks of disasters and the operational situation will help to promptly forestall emergencies and make responses to them more efficient," it said.
Wang and Kurenkov agreed to hold a world fire and rescue sports championship in China next year, it said.
On July 6, Beijing hosted the second meeting of the Russian-Chinese commission for cooperation in preventing and responding to emergency situations. The parties signed a protocol for a bilateral meeting and a plan of joint events for the next two years, the Russian ministry said.
Kurenkov previously met with his Chinese counterparts on the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in New Delhi in late April. Chinese Emergency Management Vice Minister Xu Jiaai asked the Russian ministry's assistance in training Chinese specialists to fight fires using aircraft at that meeting.