Xi, Putin could sign 30-year gas deal in Shanghai
Moscow says agreement is '98per cent ready' after a decade of negotiations over prices
China and Russia hope to sign a massive deal for natural gas supply when their leaders meet in a regional summit in Shanghai next week, a senior diplomat has said.
Under the deal, Russia will supply 38 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually to China for 30 years.
Deputy Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping told reporters yesterday that President Xi Jinping would discuss the deal and other points of co-operation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, who will visit Shanghai on Tuesday.
The two companies are exchanging views on the pricing issue
The deal is between Russia's Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), but the two sides have yet to agree on pricing despite more than a decade of negotiations.
Xi will meet Putin on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, to be attended by 46 nations and agencies.
"The companies of the two nations are exchanging views on the pricing issue," Cheng said. "We will strive to get the companies to sign the natural gas co-operation deal and [have it] witnessed by both state leaders while Putin is in China."
Cheng said Xi and Putin reached a consensus over natural gas co-operation when Xi attended the Sochi Winter Olympics in February. Companies of both nations have reached agreement on many aspects of the deal.