MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that China is a highly trusted Russian partner, and trade turnover with China has been growing and may reach record levels by the end of the year.
"Despite the recession in the global economy, the trade turnover between Russia and China has been increasing, for nine months of the current year, it exceeds 100 billion dollars. It’s a good indicator for us. We can reach record levels by the end of the year. And in this regard, Beijing is a highly reliable partner," he said at a plenary meeting of the Russian Energy Week on Wednesday.
The Russian president stressed that he wasn’t speaking about "any political component". "Even as our strategic partner and ally in all major areas, China is our trusted partner and ally fulfilling all its obligations," he pointed out. "If any questions emerge, even economic ones, we sit down at the negotiating table and search for solutions, and we find them via mutual compromises," Putin explained.
According to him, this also applies to cooperation in the energy field. "First of all," the head of state said, "China has been cooperating with us on one of the largest LNG projects, along with Total and our Novatek. And this is a successful project."
Putin stated that Moscow and Beijing agreed on pipeline gas supplies to China, and a pipeline route was built. "We are going to reach a total volume of 38 billion cubic meters," the leader said. "China is a big market, a huge market, a growing economy with mounting consumption," he concluded.