A launching ceremony for the 2012 Sino-Russia Tourism Year was held in northeast China's Heilongjiang province Thursday.
The initiative, along with an accompanying initiative to be launched in Russia in 2013, will boost people-to-people exchanges and consolidate Sino-Russian relations, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a statement on Dec. 31, 2011.
The initiative is the third of its kind to take place between China and Russia, following Sino-Russia National Year and the Sino-Russia Year of Language held in 2006 and 2009, respectively.
(Source: Xinhua)
