Chinese and Russian companies on Sunday in St. Petersburg inked a series of contracts ranging from agriculture to car-making, on the sidelines of an international economic forum.

The 19 contracts are valued at about 2 billion U.S. dollars.

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and her Russian counterpart Alexander Zhukov were present at the signing ceremony.

"The soaring Chinese and Russian economies made us both attractive markets and investment destinations and forged a solid economic foundation for bilateral cooperation," Wu told a round-table meeting on China-Russia trade and economic ties.

Wu is leading a Chinese delegation to participate in the the 11th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Russia is China's No. 8 trading partner, and China is Russia's fourth-largest trading partner. Bilateral trade hit 33.4 billion dollars in 2006, up 15 percent year on year and nearly five times that of 1992.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has predicted that bilateral trade would reach 60 billion to 80 billion U.S. dollars by 2010.

Wu asked Chinese and Russian companies, especially big ones, to expand cooperation in areas such as energy, financial service and civilian aircraft manufacturing.

Zhukov hailed the development of Russian-Chinese relations, which feature soaring trade volumes and progress in two-way investments.

Noting that the Russian government encourages companies to boost cooperation with Chinese businesses, he expressed confidence that bilateral trade would hit the set goal of 60 billion dollars in 2010.

Source: Xinhua