Chinese president hails Putin's "productive" visit

Oct 12, 2011, 7:19 GMT

Beijing - Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday hailed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 'productive' visit to Beijing after the two sides signed deals on oil, gas, investment and high-technology cooperation.

Putin's two-day visit had yielded 'friendly and productive talks' and several new cooperation agreements, strengthening the Sino-Russian 'comprehensive strategic relationship,' Hu said before the two men began closed talks.

Putin said Russian and Chinese companies had signed agreements valued at some 7 billion dollars during his visit, which ended when Putin left Beijing later Wednesday.

There were no immediate details of the talks between Hu and Putin.

The Russian leader also met Wu Bangguo, the official number two in China's ruling Communist Party, on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao witnessed the signing of several major investment deals after talks that focussed on trade, energy and global affairs.

Wen said the two sides had settled a dispute over the price of oil from a pipeline running from Siberia to China, following a disagreement over tariffs when Russia began pumping 300,000 barrels daily in January.

Putin said they were also close to resolving a disagreement over gas giant Gazprom's demand for China to pay a price close to European levels for its gas imports from Russia.

The deals signed included an agreement to set up a joint investment fund worth up to 4 billion dollars to be used mainly for projects in Russia.

Other agreements covered cooperation in energy-saving technology, high-speed railways, nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and the development of fast-neutron nuclear reactors, reports said.

China is Russia's top trade partner and Putin said bilateral trade could reach 80 billion dollars this year.

The two nations have agreed goals to increase two-way trade to 100 billion dollars by 2015 and 200 billion dollars by 2020.

Read more about Russia