Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will be among the guests at the opening ceremony of the Year of the Chinese Language in Moscow.

The two countries worked closely in 2006 and 2007 to host reciprocal "national theme years," and last year China hosted the Year of the Russian Language. A program of over 200 events included language teaching seminars, arts festivals, song contests and screenings of Russian and Soviet films.

Also during 2009, several Russian language centres in Chinese universities were opened by the Russkiy Mir Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting the Russian language and culture.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov pledged support for the 2010 program from "top Russian leadership."

"We hope that the Russian language centres will play an intermediary role in promoting Russian among the Chinese university students, and, in a broader sense, become an envoy of the Russia-China good-neighborly friendship," he told Xinhua, China's official news agency. "We hope that the Chinese side will provide effective assistance for the further expansion of Russian language centres in China."

Zhukov promised close cooperation on cultural issues between the two nations, and praised China, declaring it "no exaggeration to say China is colorful and the Chinese culture is profound."

Irina Khaleyeva of the Moscow State Linguistics University said that linguistics "plays a key, if not the most important role, in international exchanges," because "we're living in a world of texts."

She said she was supporting the Year of the Chinese Language because of her lifelong passion for China, saying that from childhood, "China has been deeply inside my heart."

21 March 2010