President Hu's Russia tour "fruitful": FM spokesman

President Hu Jintao' visit to Russia is "fruitful", said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao in Beijing on July 5.

President Hu paid a state visit to Russia from June 30 to July 3 at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Liu briefed a regular press conference on the general situation of Hu's Russia tour.

During this visit, the two sides issued a joint statement on a new world order in the 21st century and a joint communique, signed some documents on cooperation in finance, energy and electric power, and decided to hold the Russia year in China in 2006 and the China year in Russia in 2007.

"This fruitful visit is conducive for both sides to deepening political trust, to strengthening strategic cooperation, to increasing economic and trade cooperation, to enhancing coordination in international and regional affairs, to further promoting the development of China-Russia strategic partnership of cooperation," said Liu.

As to the energy cooperation, the two sides agreed that it is of great importance to enforce bilateral cooperation in the energy field. They decided to further implement the cooperation projects in the fields of oil and natural gas, including the construction of an oil pipeline and joint exploitation of oil fields in both countries.

The cooperation agreements on oil, natural gas and electric power signed at the summit of Hu and Putin marked a new step in energy cooperation between the two countries, the communique said.

According to the agreement reached by the two leaders, before finishing the construction of the oil pipeline, the Russian side promised to provide China with crude oil, transported through railway, of 10 million tons this year and 15 million next year.

Source: Xinhua