Sept. 24, 2004
Chinese students greet Premier Wen Jiabao on his arrival in Moscow.BEIJING, Sept. 24 (Xinhuaent) -- Premier Wen Jiabao is now in Moscow with a mission to secure more power supply from Russia to satisfy China's booming demand for oil and gas.
This is his first visit to Russia since taking office in March last year.
Chinese ambassador to Russia, Liu Guchang, says oil would be top of the agenda. He believes that Russia would keep its commitment to construct an oil pipeline to northeastern China, although maybe the two sides cannot thrash out the exact route of the pipeline this time.
The two countries have been negotiating to build a pipeline from oil-rich Siberia to the Daqing oil field in Heilongjiang province.
Shortly before Wen Jiabao's visit, Russian oil giant Yukos announced it would suspend its monthly exports of 400,000 tonnes to China National Petroleum Corporation.
But that problem appeared to have been resolved. Speaking after a meeting with Chinese Railways Minister Liu Zhijun, Yukos chief executive Steven Theede said China had agreed to pay in advance for shipments next month.
Before leaving for Moscow, Wen Jiabao and his counterparts from Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan along with the deputy prime ministers of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, approved a joint communiqu®¶ and nine other agreements at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, or SCO in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.
The leaders agreed to boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation among six SCO members and strengthen joint efforts in the fight against terrorism.
(Text: CRIENGLSH.com, Photo: Reuters)
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/24/content_2016402.htm