CRI听力:China, Russia Vow to Expand Cooperation at St. Petersburg Economic Forum

Amid continued international sanctions connected to the situation in Ukraine, along with the dramatic drop in the value of the ruble, Russia's leadership has been increasingly looking toward China to help keep the Russian economy on-track.

This has been highlighted in a speech delivered to this year's St. Petersburg Economic Forum by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"In May, Russia and China signed a joint communiqué concerning the integration of Eurasian Economic Union and the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative. This has provided a new approach for Europe-Asia cooperation, especially in the large-scale infrastructure building, streamlining procedures for bilateral trade as well as increasing bilateral financial investment."

China's delegation to this year's event in St. Petersburg, which has included representatives from over a hundred Chinese companies, has been led by Chinese vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli.

"We feel both sides should be working on large-scale strategic projects, based on our great potential, to increase our mutual investment. We feel our two countries can foster more cooperation in areas such as energy, agriculture, space, finance and the development of Russia's Far East region, along with many other areas."

Zhang Gaoli has overseen the signing of numerous contracts between Chinese and Russian companies at the event in St. Petersburg.

The agreements have included a commitment to design a high-speed railway link between Moscow and the southeastern Russian city of Kazan.

There have also been significant discussions between the Chinese and Russian sides when it comes to energy cooperation.

Russia's EN+ Group CEO Vyacheslav Solomin says teaming up with China when it comes to energy just makes sense.

"For China, cooperation in energy resources will bring clean energy to push forward the Chinese economy. For Russia, it will further explore the energy resources in eastern Siberia and promote infrastructure construction in Russian territory. This is win-win cooperation for the two sides."

China is now Russia's largest trading partner.

Bilateral trade last year surpassed 90-billion US dollars.

It's expected to exceed 100-billion by the end of this year.

For CRI, I am Wang Mengzhen