Zee Beam News

Nov. 23, 2008 (Bloomberg by Rob Delaney) -- China's President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged closer cooperation on international efforts to ease the global credit crisis, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. The two leaders, in a one-on-one meeting, also vowed to implement a strategy they agreed on during the G-20 meeting in Washington this month that involves energy supplies and supporting each other's economic and trade interests, Liu said in an interview today at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic summit in Lima. The ``strategic action plan' is meant to be carried out from 2009 to 2012 as part of a ``good neighborly relations and peace' treaty that guides the bilateral relationship, Liu said. ``Hu and Medvedev approved this plan in Washington and now they will implement it,' Liu said. ``This action plan covers politics, economics and energy, though energy -- including natural gas -- is a key part of it.' Leaders of Pacific Rim nations including China and Russia promised today to ``act quickly and decisively' to resolve the global economic crisis. A worldwide slump has prompted central bankers and governments to cut lending rates and announce spending packages and tax cuts designed to sustain growth.
Oil, North Korea: OAO Gazprom Neft plans to send 1.2 million tons of oil through the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline to China next year, Interfax reported on Nov. 14, citing a company official. Gazprom Neft has an agreement with China National Petroleum Corp. to deliver the crude, Deputy General Director Anatoly Cherner said, according to the Moscow-based news service. The Russian producer is allowed to export 250,000 tons of oil through the link in the fourth quarter of this year, Interfax said. Gazprom Neft is the oil arm of Russia's natural-gas export monopoly, OAO Gazprom. Liu declined to comment further on energy supply agreements Hu and Medvedev agreed to. Both governments also agreed to push for progress in efforts to restrain North Korea's nuclear program through a six-nation dialogue. The six nations, including the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Russia, will meet in China on Dec. 8 for a new round of negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters returning from Peru with President George W. Bush aboard Air Force One. The U.S. is seeking a pledge from North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program and assurance that a verification program will be put in place. Earlier negotiations stalled when North Korea indicated Nov. 12 that international inspectors wouldn't be allowed to remove samples from its Yongbyon reactor, saying that it had never agreed to do so.