China Daily: China, Russia sign major agreements worth $1.6bn

By Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-22 07:51

Beijing - China and Russia signed 15 deals cumulatively worth $1.6 billion in the Russian city of Vladivostok over the weekend, with more coming up on Monday.

The documents were signed during Vice-President Xi Jinping's tour of the country. Xi arrived in Russia Saturday at the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He is expected to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Putin in Moscow on Monday.

The deals to be signed Monday may involve cooperation in the energy sector, among other areas, experts said.

Beijing and Moscow may also discuss their respective positions on the Iran nuclear issue, and military cooperation, the experts said.

The two countries had previously agreed to operate a 1,030-kilometer-long pipeline linking Russia's Skovorodino city with Daqing, in northeastern China, by the end of this year.

The pipeline is expected to transport 15 million tons of crude oil annually from Russia to China between 2011 and 2030.

The first batch of deals, signed by local governments and business communities on Saturday, involved cooperation in areas including the economy, technology, energy and infrastructure.

The settlement of border issues and the approval of a grand plan outline last year for cooperation between Russia's Far East and East Siberia and China's Northeast, had laid a political and legal basis for greater cooperation, Xi said on Saturday.

The outline reportedly covers a total of 205 projects to be finished before 2018.

"Now, the neighboring areas, and high-level officials of the two governments are all talking about the outline," said Jiang Yi, an expert on Russia studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"I'm sure Xi will discuss the details (with Russian leaders)."

One of the top priorities would be "developing energy cooperation with neighboring areas," Zhang Guobao, director of the National Energy Administration, who is part of Xi's entourage, told Xinhua News Agency in Vladivostok on Saturday.

Jiang said Xi may also discuss the Iran nuclear issue. So far, China and Russia have been the only two UN Security Council permanent member states that have not explicitly clarified whether they would push for sanctions against Tehran.

Combating terrorism in the neighborhood, the situation in Afghanistan, and the upcoming BRIC summit in Brazil may also figure in the discussions, he said.

Jiang Li, an expert on Russian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said, "the (talks between) the two countries are likely to see breakthroughs in mutual investment, large projects and military cooperation", especially against the backdrop of the transforming nature of their economies and a sharp drop in bilateral trade seen last year.

China is Russia's biggest trade partner. Their trade volume hit a record $58.8 billion in 2008.

However, it was dragged down by the global economic downturn last year, falling by nearly one-third.

In the first two months of 2010, the trade volume has grown by nearly 70 percent year-on-year and close to the pre-crisis levels, Vice-Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, who is also accompanying Xi on the visit, said last Friday.

"More attention must be paid to the restructuring of trade cooperation between the two countries," Gao said.

Xi is scheduled to stay in Russia until Wednesday. The trip will later take him to Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Xinhua: Interregional co-op cements Sino-Russian ties, says vice chairman of China's NDRC

2010-03-21 15:55:58

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, March 20 (Xinhua) -- China's North East and Russia's Far East are close neighbors whose peoples are in close contacts and long to expand cooperation.

To meet their wishes, the top leaders of both countries set this regional cooperation as a strategic priority of bilational cooperation and jointly signed a bilateral planning outline of regional cooperation between the North East of China and the Russian Far East region and East Siberia (will hereafter be abbreviated as cooperation plan outline) in New York on Sept. 23, 2009, Zhang Guobao, vice chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) told Xinhua in an interview on Saturday.

Zhang, who is accompanying Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on a five-day visit to Russia, said interregional cooperation is an important component of bilateral relationship, plays an important role in enriching and upgrading bilateral cooperation and is highly regarded by leaders of both countries.

After signing the cooperation plan outline, both Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev called for earnest efforts to implement the document which beats all other documents signed by both countries in terms of the extensiveness of the areas it covers.

The endorsement of the document and its application will have a far-reaching impact on bilateral cooperation and greatly boost the economic and social development in the neighboring areas of the two countries, Zhang said.

The Chinese official said that to expand bilateral interregional cooperation, the two countries need to improve the transport and seaport infrastructure in the border regions, and develop a joint transportation network.

The two sides also need to carry out and jointly invest in a number of major projects of mutual concern, and deepen cooperation in such fields as energy, economy and trade, tourism, science and technology, as well as the humanities.

Zhang said energy cooperation which holds great significance in bilateral cooperation has strong regional characterstics as most of it is carried out in Russia's Far East and Serbian regions and China's North East.

These areas also witness the bulk of bilateral trade and investment cooperation. Therefore, strengthened regional cooperation will elevate bilational cooperation in general, Zhang noted.

Since the signing of the "cooperation plan outline," a series of reciprocal visits and seminars have been held to discuss its implementation, which has formally begun this year, Zhang said.

The Sino-Russian regional cooperation is a systmatic project with rich contents, Zhang said, suggesting that the following principles be observed in implementing the cooperation plan outline.

Firstly, he said, both sides should further enhance communication and coordination and jointly push forward the implementation of the document.

Secondly, he said, special efforts should be made to complete some influential and exemplary projects.

Thirdly, to jointly set up a platform for regular exchanges of information and for interaction between the governments in the border regons.

Fourthly, to establish a multi-layered mechanism for promotion and coordination of regional cooperation. New situations and problems will be studied and solved in time.

Fifthly, to strengthen financial support and build a favorable soft envirnoment for regional cooperation, and encourage financial institutions of both countries to increase support for regional coooperation projects by various means.