China, Russia sign deals totaling $1.6B

MOSCOW, March 22 (UPI) -- Russia and China have signed agreements totaling $1.6 billion in the technology, energy and infrastructure sectors, Beijing announced.

China is already Russia's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to $58.8 billion in 2008, China Daily reported.

The agreements were signed during the weekend in the Russian city of Vladivostok while Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited at the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The 56-year-old Xi is expected to succeed President Hu Jintao in 2012 as China's top leader.

More deals were expected to be signed during Xi's visit.

China and Russia already have agreed to operate a 640-mile (1,030 kilometers) oil pipeline that will connect Skovorodino in Russia with Daqing in northeastern China by the end of this year, the report said.

When completed, the pipeline is expected to transport 15 million tons of crude oil annually from Russia to China between 2011 and 2030.

Xi praised the settlement of border issues between the two countries and approval of a plan last year for cooperation between Russia's Far East and East Siberia and China's northeast. The plan calls for the completion of 205 projects by 2018.

A major topic to be discussed during Xi's Moscow trip was "developing energy cooperation," Zhang Guobao, director of the National Energy Administration and a member of Xi's delegation, told Xinhua news agency.