Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to arrive in Moscow on Friday to kick off his first overseas visit since being elected president last week.

The trip, described by both officials and analysts as reaffirmation of Chinese diplomatic priorities under Xi's leadership, aims to promote the Sino-Russian strategic partnership to a higher level and convert both sides' political advantages into bigger economic benefits.

"The fact I will visit Russia, our friendly neighbor, shortly after I become China's president is testament to the great importance China places on its relations with Russia," Xi said in a joint interview with Chinese media and media outlets from the four other BRICS countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Speaking at a joint press conference in Beijing with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping on Tuesday, Russian Ambassador to China Sergey Razov noted that six hours after Xi was elected president on March 14, Russian President Vladmir Putin became the first foreign leader to extend congratulations to Xi.

Such acts underscore the longtime continuity and stability of Sino-Russian relations, which stand out from relations both sides have with other countries, Alexander Lomanov, chief researcher at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said at a symposium on Sino-Russian relations.

"The relationship between China and Russia never needs to 'reset.' No matter who is in leadership, they always make development of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership a diplomatic priority," Lomanov noted.

Growing common interests

Such a relationship is in part driven by the joint interests of China and Russia, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, to safeguard global peace and stability and the UN Charter and principles.

Speaking at Tuesday's press conference, Cheng vowed Beijing and Moscow would step up political support of each other's efforts in safeguarding their national sovereignty, security and core interests.

For his part, Razov said China and Russia would issue a major joint statement during Xi's trip. "People should pay special attention to the statement because it will make clear our two nations' positions on a series of international issues, including the anti-missile issue," he said, alluding to US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's announcement last week that Washington will increase 14 additional ground-based missile interceptors in Alaska. The move, in response to North Korea's nuclear threat, brings the total number of interceptors deployed by the US to 44.

"The issue of missile defense has a bearing on global strategic balance, and China and Russia have similar views on this matter," Cheng told reporters at the press conference.

The joint statement is also expected to cover Syria's civil war and North Korea's nuclear ambitions, issues where both Beijing and Moscow have repeatedly voiced opposition to foreign intervention.

Sino-Russian cooperation on Syria aims to defend the UN Charter and not to protect the reign of President Bashar al-Assad, said Wan Chengcai, a researcher at the Xinhua World Studies Center.

It is likely that leaders of China and Russia will also discuss the situation in Afghanistan, Zhao Gancheng, director of South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times.

"The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, led by China and Russia, could seek coordination with NATO for security and stability in the region if NATO forces withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014," Zhao said, adding that whether such a mechanism can be established is "up to NATO and the US."

Need for practical cooperation

While cementing their strategic partnership on a global level, analysts suggest China and Russia should also spare no effort turning their political advantages into economic benefits.

Trade volume between China and Russia reached a record $88 billion in 2012, with China ranking as Russia's largest trade partner for the third consecutive year.

But that trade volume still lags far behind China's trade with the US and Japan, Razov noted, which hit over $440 billion and $320 billion respectively in 2012.

Energy has always been a highlight of economic cooperation between China, the world's second-largest oil consumer and Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter.

But almost half of China's oil imports still come from the Middle East, even though unrest and war in the region have threatened Beijing's energy security. By contrast, the majority of Russian oil exports flow to Europe.

To build a closer economic relationship, both Russia and China should abandon some of their old mindsets, Wang told the Global Times.

"Some people in Russia still believe that Moscow should first focus on Europe before China. In China, some of us still view Russia as a nation that supplies nothing but raw materials. Such thoughts from both sides need to be changed now," Wang said.

Hopes are high that China and Russia will make a breakthrough in deadlocked negotiations over the construction of an oil pipeline and oil exports during Xi's visit.

Expanding energy ambitions

Russia will sharply boost oil exports to China, making Beijing its top customer, in a package of deals to be signed between Russia's top crude producer Rosneft and Chinese companies during Xi's visit, Reuters cited sources as reporting Thursday.

Rosneft plans to increase oil supplies via the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline by 1 million tons this year and by a further 2 million tons next year, aiming to increase exports to China by some 34 million tons to around 50 million tons by 2018, according to the report.

"Energy will still be dominant in Sino-Russian economic cooperation in the future. Aside from oil, the two countries should also move forward on gas trade talks," Xing Guangcheng, a researcher with the Center of China's Borderland History and Geography Research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Russia is the world's largest conventional gas producer, but a China-Russia pipeline gas deal has been in stalemate for many years due to differences from both sides over pricing.

"Russia joined the World Trade Organization last year, which could create much more opportunities for economic cooperation with China in sectors other than energy, such as mutual investment and high-tech cooperation," Xing said.