Chinese, Russian firms sign memo to deepen power cooperation

Two power giants from Russia and China had signed a memo recently in a bid to further power cooperation between the two countries.

The memo were signed by the Unified Energy System of Russia (RAO) and the State Grid Corporation of China, said visiting Leonid Drachevsky, vice chairman of RAO Friday.

"Our meeting is a sign that the power cooperation relationship between the two sides has entered a new stage," said Drachevsky.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed issues such as Russia's power supply to China, joint project development and equipment supply.

"We stress cooperation with RAO, since it meets the mutual interests of the people and the governments of both sides," Liu Zhenya, president of the State Grid Corporation of China, was quoted as saying on his company's official Website.

Drachevsky said the two sides have decided to expand their current working group so as to better exercise research on the prospects and scales of the cooperation.

He didn't rule out the possibility of building a long-distance power supply line via Mongolia to China.

"Things depend on China's demand and if they are economically reasonable," he said.

Currently, power supply cooperation between the two countries are mainly carried out in cross-boarder areas.

Statistics from Russia indicate that Russia offered 300 million kwh of power in 2004 and the supply is expected to grow in 2005.