SHANGHAI, November 26 – RIA Novosti. The conference of the Russian-Chinese section of the International Valdai Discussion Club closed on Friday. Leading experts from both countries have discussed strategic cooperation between Russia and China, the role of bilateral relations in the global architecture, trade and economic relations and the prospects of building a new Asia-Pacific security system.

The conference was entitled “Regional stability through harmonious development: Russia and China in the new world architecture.”

On the second day of the conference, the participants focused on security in Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, and on the influence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Russian-Chinese relations in building a new security system in the region.

The experts concluded that the Asia-Pacific region, one of the largest and most rapidly developing in the world, is still facing the challenge of building an optimal security system. There are several international organizations in the region, including APEC, ASEAN and SCO, whose influence extends to the entire region. Therefore, there is no need for another group; on the other hand, their experience should be built upon and extended, and new security mechanisms need to be created.

The concepts of co-development and co-prosperity should find practical implementation, the participants said.

They agreed that open and transparent approaches are needed to ensure security and stability in this vast region.

During discussions, political analysts from both countries insisted that Russian-Chinese regional security policy should emphasize non-alignment to any blocs, should not be targeted against third countries and should be based on open cooperation and co-development.

The conference convened over 40 experts, analysts and diplomats from the two countries. It was organized by RIA Novosti, Russia’s Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Center for Russian Studies at the East China Normal University.