Putin and Xi Sign Over 20 Cooperation Agreements
According to the English section of webangah news Agency, citing Xinhua via Mehr News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed over 20 bilateral agreements covering multiple sectors, including energy, during comprehensive discussions at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, China.
Reuters reported that Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom agreed to a slight increase in gas supplies to China through the existing pipeline.The company also signed a memorandum of understanding for building the major “Power of Siberia 2” pipeline at prices lower than what European buyers pay.
this move comes as Russia seeks to deepen ties with China-its largest trading partner-after European sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 caused a critically important loss of its market share in Europe.
Last month,Reuters noted that due to limited progress in talks between moscow and Beijing on constructing a new pipeline,China is aiming to purchase more gas from Russia via the current pipeline.
Alexey Miller, CEO of Russia’s state-owned Gazprom, stated that his company reached an agreement with Beijing to boost gas supplies through the existing Power of Siberia pipeline from Eastern Siberia to China. Under this deal, annual gas deliveries will rise from 38 billion cubic meters to 44 billion cubic meters.
Miller added that China and Russia have also agreed on constructing power of Siberia 2-a route capable of transporting up to 50 billion cubic meters annually through Mongolia into China.
The “unlimited” comprehensive partnership between China-the world’s largest energy consumer-and Russia-the second-largest natural resources producer-has strengthened since Western sanctions targeted Moscow over its attack on Kyiv.
