Minister of Justice visits Russia

Zhang Jun (left) and Konovalov (right) sign a cooperation plan after the meeting. [Photo/Ministry of Justice]

A delegation led by Zhang Jun, Chinese minister of justice, visited Russia from November 1 to 5 at the invitation of Alexander Konovalov, minister of justice of Russia.

Zhang introduced the outcomes of China's 19th CPC National Congress and the achievements obtained in China's legal construction and exchanged ideas on judicial administration reform with Konovalov.

The two sides also discussed judicial guarantees and legal service cooperation and reached agreement in those areas.

Zhang pointed out that in the recent congress, rule of law was included as the basic strategy, adding that further steps must be taken in China's legal construction to ensure that rule of law is practiced.

Zhang mentioned China's judicial administration reform indicating that Chinese people now aspire to a better quality of life and higher standards for democracy, fairness and justice.

Under such circumstances, the reform should be based on a public legal service system and satisfying the needs of the general public to achieve a sense of gain, happiness and security, Zhang said.

He also called for efforts to step up of judicial and administration reform to improve such fields as legal publicity and assistance, judicial expertise, and community correction to provide timely, accurate legal services of benefit to all people.

Concerning Sino-Russian exchanges and cooperation, Zhang said that the task of China's judicial and administrative system reform is still arduous and it's necessary for the country to learn from foreign judicial systems such as Russia's, which has a lot in common with China's.

In speaking about Sino-Russian exchanges, he expressed the hope that the two sides will strengthen high-level exchanges and deepen cooperation in legal service and guarantees for civil and commercial activity and personnel and cultural exchanges.

Konovalov praised China's achievements in economic and social development and legal construction as well as in the planning and objectives proposed by the 19th CPC National Congress and agreed with Zhang on advances in judicial exchanges and cooperation.