Putin wants high-speed rail system
- Source: Global Times
- [04:04 October 12 2009]
- Comments
Energy cooperation highlighted
"China will further promote the energy cooperation between the two countries, and endeavor to ensure that the Sino-Russian crude-oil pipeline goes into operation before the end of 2010 and starts supplying oil in 2011," Wang Guangya, China's vice minister of foreign affairs, said at a press conference Friday.
In another development, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Rosneft Oil will reportedly sign a $4 billion agreement on an oil refinery in Tianjin, North China, with a productivity of 15 million tons of petroleum products, during Putin's stay.
In October 2008, the two countries signed an agreement to launch a crude pipeline from Skovorodino, Russia's Eastern Siberia, to China, to transport about 20 million tons of oil. Another agreement in the works includes China agreeing in February to provide $25 billion in loans for 15 million tons of oil from Russia annually over the next 20 years.
"As far as I know, there are many more deals to be signed, other than the reported 38," said Xia Yishan, head of the China Energy Strategy Research Center under the China Institute of International Studies, adding that energy cooperation ranging from natural gas, oil, and nuclear power would gain major progress.
According to Russian media reports, members of the ruling United Russia party attended a forum Thursday featuring "State management" in north China. The Russian officials were interested in learning how the Communist Party of China successfully led the country through the global economic crisis, according to the Russian newspaper Businessmen.
Russia's trade with China soared to $56.8 billion in 2008 from $9.3 billion in 2002. The share of oil in Russia's exports stands at 56 percent, with metals at 5 percent, while the share of machinery stands at 4.4 percent, statistics showed.
As the international financial order undergoes subtle changes, the status of both the ruble and reminbi will rise, and they become stable currencies, said Wang Lijiu, a researcher of Russia at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
Bilateral cooperation by the pair would be conducive to the recovery of world economy, Wang said.
Zhang Han and Guo Qiang contributed to this story
