Russian and Chinese presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Hu Jintao, will participate in a ceremony of completing a construction of Russian-Chinese oil pipeline, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said.
Medvedev and Jintao will also attend a ceremony to launch the Chinese section of the Russian East Siberia - Pacific oil pipeline, stretching from the town of Skovorodino in the Amur region to the city of Daqing in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province.
"[Chinese] President Hu Jintao and [Russian] President Dmitry Medvedev will take part in the completion ceremony of the Russian-Chinese oil pipeline in Beijing," Yang said.
The project is a part of the East Siberia - Pacific oil pipeline, which was launched into operation in December 2009 and is designed to pump up to 1.6 million barrels (220,000 tons) of crude per day from Siberia to the Far East and then on to China and the Asia-Pacific region.
In March, Yang said the construction of the pipeline would be finished by the end of the year and become fully operational in 2011.
Russia's largest oil company Rosneft, oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and China's state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) are partners in the project. In line with the contract, the Chinese side provided the Russian companies with a $25-billion loan to construct the pipeline. In exchange, the Russian side agreed to pump 15 million tons of oil per year via the pipeline in 2011-2030.
Medvedev will pay a state visit to China on September 26-28. He is expected to visit Chinese cities of Dalian and Shanghai and a capital of Beijing.
During the scheduled talks in Beijing, the two states' leaders will discuss in detail the whole range of Russian-Chinese cooperation, a Kremlin aide Sergei Prikhodko said. The discussions will focus on the further development of trade and economic ties, energy cooperation, trade structure improvements, boosting investment and inter-regional cooperation, as well as issues of ecology and migration.
The Russian president will also take part in the Day of Russia celebrations at the Shanghai World Expo.
BEIJING, September 25 (RIA Novosti)
