On November 15, 2008, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Washington.

The two leaders spoke highly of the smooth development of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation. Sino-Russian relations have maintained a good momentum of development, and mutual political trust between the two nations is also growing steadily, Hu said. The final settlement of the border issue between China and Russia cleared away political obstacles to the sound development of bilateral ties, he added. The two nations, Hu said, will continue to steadfastly support each other on major issues concerning their core interests, and strengthen their strategic dialogue and coordination. The two countries have also conducted fruitful pragmatic cooperation. The two sides have just officially ratified the 2009-2012 outline for implementing the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. This significant document will play an important guiding role for deepening Sino-Russian pragmatic cooperation in the next few years, said Hu. Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Russia and the Year of the Russian Language in China. Hu called on both sides to take this opportunity to comprehensively implement various agreements and consensus reached by both sides, advance practical cooperation and strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs.

Medvedev hailed the rapid growth in Sino-Russian relations in 2008, saying bilateral cooperation has been fruitful in various fields, including in energy. He said he was looking forward to better development of Russia-China relations in the new year.

Noting the severity of the current financial crisis, Hu said that although countries worldwide have already adopted a series of measures to cope with it, "the situation remains grim." The crisis is quickly spreading across the world, from developed economies to developing ones, from the virtual economy to the real economy, bringing serious impacts on economic growth and people's lives worldwide, said the Chinese president. It has also had a considerable impact on the Chinese economy, he said. In response to the crisis, China has adopted a proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy, he said. China will continue to deepen the reform and opening up and maintain stable, rapid growth of the economy to play a positive role in promoting world economic stability. China and Russia, as two big economies, should enhance communication and cooperation in efforts to eliminate the adverse effects of the financial crisis and maintain stability in their respective financial markets.

Medvedev agreed with Hu's analysis of the current global financial crisis and said Russia's economy is slowing down because of the "unprecedented" crisis. The G-20 summit served as a platform for nations around the world to make concerted efforts to address the crisis and establish a new international financial system, he said. The robust economic growth in China and Russia could better help the two nations ride out the crisis, he said, adding that Russia is ready to strengthen consultation and work with China to achieve the balanced growth of the world economy.

Wang Qishan, Ling Jihua, Wang Huning and Dai Bingguo attended the meeting.