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)