Workers install medium-frequency heating for the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline on Wednesday in Qinhuangdao, North China's Hebei Province. The pipeline began operating in December 2019. The project is scheduled to provide China with 5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in 2020, rising to 38 billion cubic meters annually from 2024. Photo: cnsphotos

 

China and Russia signed an array of documents deepening cooperation in various areas ranging from agriculture, navigation, energy to the digital economy during the meeting between top leaders of the two countries on Friday, laying a solid foundation for all-round pragmatic cooperation to a further step.

Among the 15 documents, three are concerned with energy. Chinese state energy major CNPC signed two deals separately with Russian oil giant Rosneft and Gazprom. Gazprom holds a monopoly on Russian gas exports via pipeline. The company said in a statement that it planned to increase gas exports to China to 48 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year, including via a newly agreed pipeline that will deliver 10 bcm annually from Russia's Far East.

Rosneft will supply CNPC 100 million tons of oil through Kazakhstan over 10 years, effectively extending an existing deal. The Far East natural gas supply deal signed by enterprises of the two countries has become another major landmark cooperation in the energy field after the East-Route natural gas pipeline, providing a new guarantee for China to achieve its carbon goals - with emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and realizing carbon neutrality before 2060, said Le Yucheng, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, after the meeting between the two presidents. "The express train of China-Russia relations will always be on the way. There is no terminal, only gas stations.

Regarding the promotion of practical cooperation, China and Russia do not have empty talk, but only take resolute action, and it is a highly efficient action," Le said.

Apart from the strengthened cooperation on energy, the signed documents also focused on enhancing bilateral trade in goods and services, as well as green investment. In order to better facilitate their customs cooperation and trade relations, China and Russia signed an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Friday, which is set to further facilitate the security and efficiency of supply chains between the two countries and create a safer and more convenient environment for consolidating the foundation of energy cooperation and continued growth of trade and investment. China-Russia bilateral trade volume in 2021 grew by 35.9 percent year-on-year, reaching $146.8 billion, exceeding the threshold of $140 million for the first time, a record high, official data showed. China has been Russia's top trading partner for 12 consecutive years.

The two nations have set a goal of reaching $200 billion in trade by 2024. Additionally, Chinese and Russian sports authorities signed a joint statement on launching the Years of Sports Exchanges in 2022 and 2023, under which the two sides will hold more than 550 sports communication events. "It is foreseeable that in the next two years, sports will become the most active element in China-Russia non-governmental exchanges, and sportsmanship will become the most distinctive symbol of the sustainable and healthy development of bilateral relations," said Le.

Global Times