BEIJING, Oct. 12, 2009 (Xinhua) --

At the invitation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived here Monday evening for a 3-day official visit, the first official visit to China since he took office as prime minister last May.

    During Putin's visit in China, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress Wu Bangguo will meet with him. Wen will hold talks with him.

    Putin will also attend the 14th bilateral prime ministers' regular meeting and the eighth prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states.

    The SCO groups China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Mongolia, India, Iran and Pakistan are observers of the regional organization.

Senior Chinese, Russian officials pave way for meeting of gov't heads

    BEIJING, Oct. 12, 2009 (Xinhua) --

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said Monday that China and Russia should steadily expand mutual trust and economic cooperation on the principle of mutual understanding and benefit.

    The two countries should improve the quality of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, fully advance their collaboration in finance, transportation, customs and aerospace and other fields, flesh out the China-Russia strategic partnership and promote the common development and prosperity.

    Wang made the remarks while co-chairing a meeting with his Russian counterpart Alexander Zhukov, to pave the way for the talks between the heads of the two governments.

    Wang said his meeting with Zhukov was successful as it defined the key areas and targets of the next-phase cooperation, and made full preparations for the 14th regular meeting between prime ministers of the two countries.

    Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is scheduled to arrive in Beijing Monday evening for a three-day official visit. He will hold talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday.

    This will be Putin's first official visit to China since he took office as prime minister in May 2008.

    Wang stressed that China-Russia relations have reached an unprecedented height with progress achieved in all sectors and new development opportunities ahead.

    Wang called on both sides to start from the current situation and jointly respond to the international financial crisis and world economic recession.

    Bilateral trade totaled 56.83 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, making China Russia's third biggest trade partner while Russia became China's 11th.

    Mentioning that China is Russia's crucial trade partner, Zhukov said bilateral trade expanded year on year thanks to their joint efforts. Both carried out fruitful cooperation in big projects, mutual investment and economic and trade cooperation, transportation and aerospace.

    Zhukov said Russia would like to work with China to fully implement the leaders' consensus and agreements to seek more practical results from bilateral cooperation.

Editor: Deng Shasha

Vice premier: China-Russia energy cooperation enters new stage

    BEIJING, Oct. 11, 2009 (Xinhua) --

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said Sunday that Sino-Russian energy cooperation has entered a new stage of long-term and strategic cooperation.

    Wang made the remarks while co-hosting the fifth round of Sino-Russian energy negotiators' meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin in Beijing.

    Wang said the two countries should continue their energy cooperation in such areas as oil, natural gas, nuclear power and electricity, and seek solution to the existing problems so as to lift the energy cooperation to a new level.

    "China and Russia have witnessed a series of important fruitful achievements in energy cooperation this year," said Wang.

    In April, China and Russia signed inter-government agreements on oil cooperation in Beijing, and the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on natural gas cooperation in June, said Wang.

    Wang said the China-Russia oil pipeline project is going smoothly and the loan China pledged to Russia has also been implemented.

    "I would like to make joint efforts with you to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of our two countries, strive for more pragmatic fruits in energy cooperation, and make preparations for the upcoming 14th China-Russia Prime Ministers' Meeting," said Wang.

    Sechin said Russia-China energy cooperation has made new progress as bilateral relations move forward in a comprehensive and rapid manner.

    The energy cooperation complies with the fundamental interests of both countries, and enjoys huge potential and bright prospects, said Sechin, pledging to work with China to expand crude oil trade and make new achievements in cooperation in the energy sector.

    The construction on the China section of an oil pipeline from Russia's Siberia started in May.

    The 1,030-kilometer-long pipeline runs from Skovorodino, Russia, to China's northeastern city of Daqing.

    The pipeline is expected to be put into operation by the end of2010 and transport 15 million tonnes of crude oil annually from Russia to China between 2011 and 2030.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

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