Zee Beam News

MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti) - Trade between Russia and China is expected to reach about $40 billion in 2007, $7 billion more than last year, the Chinese ambassador to Russia said Friday. "In the first half of this year, trade between China and Russia totaled $20.470 billion. For the whole year, trade will exceed $40 billion", Liu Guchang told a RIA Novosti news conference. The presidents of Russia and China - Vladimir Putin and Hu Jintao - are set to meet in Russia's Urals at the end of next week, to watch the final two days of an international anti-terrorism exercise involving Asian countries and Russia. China, whose booming economic growth has brought with it soaring demand for fuel and electricity, has become a major buyer of Russia's oil and gas, as well as arms. Russia in turn relies heavily on imports of Chinese consumer goods, and recently became the largest importer of Chinese cars. The diplomat said that although trade had leaped fivefold since 1999, it still "does not reflect the economic power and capacity of China and Russia, and is well behind the high level of their political relations". The ambassador said expanding bilateral cooperation is an important for both countries, and that there is strong potential for future growth.