BEIJING, June 18. /TASS/. China’s Executive Vice Premier of the State Council Zhang Gaoli will take part in the 19th Petersburg International Economic Forum, where a group of Russian and Chinese companies are expected to sign an agreement on the construction of a high-speed railway linking Moscow and Kazan, Xinhua said on Thursday.

The document will regulate joint survey and design works. The contract for the construction of the 770-kilometre railway is expected to amount to 20 billion U.S. dollars. When the project is implemented in 2018, it will take three and a half hours to get from Moscow to Kazan.

Xinhua also said Zhang Gaoli’s visit is also aimed at the implementation of agreements reached by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in May 2015, including the one on expanding trade and financial and investment cooperation. While staying in St. Petersburg, Zhang Gaoli, a co-chairman of the Russian-Chinese investment committee along with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, will take part in the committee’s second meeting.

According to China’s official statistics, Chinese investments in Russia were 33 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 and demonstrated upwards tendencies. Trade turnover between the two countries in 2014 was 95.3 billion U.S. dollars. China has set a task of increasing trade with Russia to 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2015.