China and Russia will conclude more than 10 cooperative
agreements next week, including those on energy, finance, high-tech
and partnership between reciprocal small- and medium-sized
enterprises, Russia's ambassador to China Sergey Razov said
yesterday.
Speaking at a news conference on China-Russia ties before
Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Moscow next week, Razov said:
"Everything has convinced us that the cooperation between China and
Russia in the energy field is smooth."
Wen will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and hold
talks with Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov at the 12th Sino-Russian
prime ministers' regular meeting, he said.
The two prime ministers will talk about cooperation between the
two countries in major international and regional issues, the
increase of Russian exports of mechanical and electrical products
to China, Razov said. Coordination in Russia's development strategy
for the Far East and eastern Siberia and China's program on
revitalizing the old industrial base of the northeast are also on
the agenda.
The two leaders will discuss "the cooperation between Russia and
China in energy, including projects of building pipeline carrying
crude oil and natural gas" from Russia to China, the ambassador
said.
Chinese and Russian companies are studying the possibility of
constructing an oil pipeline from eastern Siberia to China's
northeastern border. If agreed, it will become part of a wider
project for a crude pipeline from Russia's eastern Siberian
oilfields to its Pacific coast.
Construction of the main pipeline is underway. It's expected to
be completed by the end of 2008. About 1,200 km of the 4,100-km
trunk pipeline has already been completed, Razov said. But he
declined to comment on the possible agreement during Wen's Russia
visit.
The two countries' companies are still in talks on the pricing
of natural gas to be exported to China through two other pipelines,
one running from Russia to western China and the other to eastern
China, Razov said.
Experts from China and Russia are working on a framework
document on energy cooperation before 2020 between the two
countries, he said.
Bilateral trade reached US$34.9 billion between January and
September, surpassing the total for the whole of last year,
according to foreign ministry data. The figure is expected to
exceed US$40 billion by the end of this year, he said.
High-level exchanges between Russia and China are frequent, and
President Hu Jintao has met with Putin five times.
"Russia and China have smooth cooperation in the international
arena and share close or even the same position on some
international matters, such as the nuclear issues on the Korean
Peninsula and in Iran, as well as the Myanmar issue," Razov
said.
Before Russia, Wen will visit three former Soviet republics of
Turkmenistan, Belarus and Uzbekistan, and is scheduled to attend
the Sixth Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) prime ministers'
meeting on Friday in Tashkent.
Wen will offer new proposals on deepening ties among SCO member
countries at the meeting and will sign a document on customs
cooperation with his other five counterparts, Assistant Foreign
Minister Li Hui told a news conference.
(China Daily October 30, 2007)
