Russia to deliver additional 10bcm of gas to China: Putin

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - During his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday announced that his country has signed a new contract with China to deliver an additional 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas.

In addition, Putin said, the Russian oil producers prepared "good proposals" for China, which were fixed in an additional protocol to existing agreements.

"Our oilmen have prepared good new solutions for the supply of hydrocarbons to the People's Republic of China. And the gas industry has also taken another step forward – I mean a new contract for the supply of gas to China from the Russian Far East at 10 billion cubic meters per year," he said.

The signing of the agreement happens at the time of energy crisis in Europe where gas prices have skyrocketed in recent months.

Russia and China are also moving forward in high technologies cooperation, Putin added.

The two countries reached a new record turnover of $140 billion, the Russian president said, adding that it is a step to a higher goal to achieve a trade turnover of $200 billion.

For his part, Xi Jinping said he was sure that his meeting with Putin will give an additional impetus to the development of Russian-Chinese relations.

Xi said that "the world has entered a new period of upheaval and change" and that "humanity is facing many challenges and crises.”

In these circumstances, he said, Russia and China “remain committed to the original goal – making unremitting efforts for the sustainable development of relations” and protection of their fundamental interests.

"Everything is getting stronger (between Russia and China) -- political and strategic mutual trust," he said.

As a result of the fruitful cooperation, the trade turnover reached a new record figure of $140 billion, the Chinese president said.

Xi said Moscow and Beijing will continue to promote "true multilateralism," and will strive to transform mutual trust into practical cooperation "for the benefit of the two peoples."

The two leaders held delegation-level talks before attending the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

The meeting ended with the signing of 16 documents, including several political-strategic plans and four commercial contracts.