[Disarmo] Chinese vice premier visit Russia for enhancing cooperation

[Jure Ellero LT <glry at ngi.it>]

Chinese vice premier arrives in Russia for enhancing cooperation


China. People´s Daily Aug 30


http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/home.ht
http://english.peopledaily.com
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90883/index.html


Chinese vice premier arrives in Russia for enhancing cooperation

MOSCOW, Aug. 29 -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli arrived here Friday 
evening for a bilateral energy cooperation meeting and start of 
construction of a cross-border natural gas pipeline.
Zhang made this visit as China and Russia are seeking to expand 
bilateral cooperation to more areas and higher levels.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in May 
jointly witnessed the signing of a ground-breaking contract on building 
a pipeline linking Russia's natural gas fields in Siberia with major 
cities in north China.
During his visit, Vice Premier Zhang will fly to Siberia to view welding 
of the first roll of tubes on the pipeline, on which Chinese President 
Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly witnessed the 
signing of a ground-breaking contract in May. Start of construction of 
the natural gas pipeline is a major step forward in implementing the 
important consensus reached by the presidents of the two countries.
Xi and Putin agreed to "establish a comprehensive energy cooperation 
partnership" between China and Russia when they met in Beijing in May.
The East Route of China-Russia natural gas pipeline will extend from the 
Kovyktin and Chayandin gas fields in east Siberia of Russia through 
northeast China to Beijing, and then to Shanghai on the east China 
seaboard. According to the contract, Russia will export 38 billion cubic 
meters of natural gas annually to China through the pipeline for a 
30-year period starting from 2018.
During his visit, Zhang is to co-chair the 11th Meeting of China-Russia 
Energy Cooperation Committee with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady 
Dvorkovich.
The two sides will discuss ways to advance large-scale cooperative 
projects of strategic significance. As agreed by President Xi and 
President Putin, the two countries are striving to expand cooperation 
from common trade to wider areas, especially large-scale projects of 
aviation and aerospace, nuclear energy, machinery manufacturing, finance 
and cross-border infrastructure development.
Construction of the first cross-border bridge between China and Russia 
is underway in northeast China's Heilongjiang province. In addition to 
the natural gas pipeline, a railway bridge between the Chinese town of 
Tongjiang and the Russian city of Nizhneleninskoye in Siberia will link 
the Far East region with the Silk Road Economic Belt as proposed by 
Chinese President Xi. The two countries have defied the slowdown of 
world economy to register steady growth in bilateral trade, with two-way 
trade volume in the first five months of the year going up 4.3 percent 
year on year to 36.8 billion U.S. dollars.
China has been the top trade partner of Russia in the past consecutive 
four years.
Russia is the final leg of Zhang's three-nation tour, which has taken 
him to Turkmenistan and the Czech Republic.