Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday in talks with President Hu Jintao that bilateral energy cooperation saw sound development last year and would benefit both sides.

Cooperation in the energy sector developed smoothly last year, with construction of oil pipelines well underway and cooperation in natural gas being strengthened, Putin said in the Kremlin.

He said such cooperation would certainly benefit both countries.

The president told Hu that trade and economic cooperation with China also kept good momentum in the past year, with enterprises from both sides getting more interested in cooperation and increasing their investments.

"Russia will support more companies to invest in China" and create conditions for banks to facilitate such investments, said Putin.

The president suggested that the two countries boost investment and large-scale cooperation projects in the Far East and the Siberian regions.

He added that cooperation could be expanded in such sectors as power-generation, telecommunications, civil aviation and peaceful use of the outer space.

After their talks, the two presidents signed a joint statement and witnessed the signing of nine cooperation agreements in railway, banking, telecommunications and other fields.

President Hu arrived in Moscow earlier Monday for a three-day state visit.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2007)