PREVIEW: Moscow and Beijing to talk energy, trade at Russia forum

Jun 14, 2011, 12:34 GMT

Moscow - The leaders of Russia and China are expected to discuss energy issues and bilateral trade at a three-day summit set to open Wednesday in St Petersburg.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao will hold one-on-one talks and lead national delegations at the St Petersburg Inernational Economic Forum, the Interfax news agency reported. The event marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of a Russo-Chinese friendship and cooperation treaty, which has reduced tensions between the two powers.

'We will determine the further directions for development of Chinese-Russian relations,' Hu said in an interview published by official Russian media. 'The relations have grown along healthy lines in all directions, and are now at an unprecedented high level.'

Closer cooperation in energy - particularly by enabling Russia to supply more of it to Chinese industry - is one of the conference's top priorities, he said.

The two sides will discuss ways to link Russia's electricity grid and natural gas transportation network with China's Manchuria and Xinjiang regions, Russian media reported.

On Monday, Chinese government officials and Russian natural gas company Gazprom began a new round of talks on a 30-year contract to deliver fuel to western China via a pipeline to be built through Russia's Altai province.

The Altai pipeline would cost some 14 billion dollars and cross some of Russia's most rugged and pristine mountain terrain. The project has been discussed since 2006 with little progress, partly because of the availability of cheaper gas from other sources.

Russia's first oil pipeline to China, a spur of the Trans-Siberian ESPO pipeline, began operations in January. State-owned energy companies from the two countries have also cooperated on fossil fuel exploration and extraction for close to a decade, particularly in the Caspian Sea basin.

Creating the legal and economic framework for a wide increase in trade between the two countries is another main goal of the conference. Beijing believes that annual bilateral trade could increase from the current 60 billion dollars to 100 billion dollars in the next five years, Hu said.

Russia and China also need to increase cultural and humanitarian cooperation and resolve all border questions, Hu said.

Disputed borders between Russia and China in the Far Eastern Ussuri and Amur River regions have long been a point of conflict between the two countries.

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