13/7 Tass 97
BEIJING, July 13 (Itar-Tass) —— There is no need to dramatise or politicise the process of the Russian-Chinese talks on gas supplies, Russian Ambassador to China Sergei Razov said on Wednesday in an interview to Itar-Tass devoted to the tenth anniversary of the Russian-Chinese Treaty of Good Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation.
“I think, there is no need to dramatise or politicise the fact that the authorized commercial companies could not make a coordinated decisions by the designated date,” the diplomat stressed, adding, “The talks are under way.”
He is confident that the most important task now is to create the best basis for the gas cooperation between the two countries.
Energy cooperation is one of the most important components of the Russian-Chinese economic interaction, which is of strategic significance for both bilateral relations and for long-term development of the two countries, Razov reaffirmed.
The ambassador pointed to several breakthrough results in this sphere, first of all the commissioning of the Russian-Chinese oil pipeline at the beginning of this year.
“The leaders of the two countries are paying special attention to the energy cooperation issues,” the diplomat said.
“During their meeting, the two presidents many times discussed supplies of gas from Russia to China, which says about the political support to this key sector of bilateral cooperation at the highest level and about the intention to create favourable conditions for the soonest signing of commercial contracts,” he said.
“The question is about draft treaties on the supply of 68 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas to China within at least 30 years,” Razov said. “Undoubtedly, such long-term and scale project should be drafted in detail. This is not a routine commercial contract. The project cost is estimated at tens of billions U.S. dollars,” the Russian ambassador to China said.