Chinese enterprises will sign four contracts worth over US$500 million to buy machinery and electric products from their Russian counterparts during a Chinese national exhibition in Moscow, a top Chinese trade official said on Monday.

Chinese enterprises will also sign another six contracts to supply machinery and electric products worth US$1.128 billion to Russia, Vice Minister of Commerce Yu Guangzhou said at an electric trade fair held on the first day of the Chinese national exhibition due in Moscow on March 26-29.

"It is the common objective of the two countries to increase the share of machinery and electric products in mutual trade," Yu said.

"Machinery constitutes a small fraction of bilateral trade turnover. The sides must undertake efforts to increase the competitiveness of the output of their machine-building products," Yu said.

According to official statistics, the China-Russia bilateral trade turnover of machinery and electric products last year was US$5.85 billion, but only US$247 million of importation was from Russia. Russia mainly delivered oil, petrochemicals and timber to China last year.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2007)