Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will pay an official visit to Russia September 16-18 at the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced Monday. 

During his visit, Li and Medvedev will hold the 24th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government, according to spokeswoman Hua Chunying. 

A joint communique will be released after Li and Medvedev's talks in St. Petersburg, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said at a press briefing later on Monday, adding that the Chinese premier will also meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. 

Noting that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Russia, Le said Li's visit will be another important high-level exchange between the two sides following Chinese President Xi Jinping's Russia tour in June. During Xi's visit, China and Russia agreed to upgrade their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era. 

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Le hailed China-Russia relations as ties with the highest level of mutual trust, coordination and strategic value between major countries in the world. 

Bilateral trade volume exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars for the first time last year, and the two sides have set a target to double the number by 2024, he noted. 

Li's visit is expected to upgrade practical cooperation between China and Russia so as to contribute to building an open world economy and voice strong opposition to the trends of unilateralism, protectionism and anti-globalization, Le stressed. 

The Chinese premier's previous trip to Russia was from November 30 to December 1, 2017, when he attended the annual meeting of the Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) in Sochi.