Russia and China will finalize a major gas supply deal during a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Moscow next week, China’s ambassador to Russia Li Hui said on Friday.
If the long-awaited deal is finally signed, it will clear the way for China to buy 68 billion cubic meters of gas a year for over 30 years.
“Gas negotiations are going on, an agreement on the gas price formula is expected to be reached in the near future,” he told journalists. “An intergovernmental deal and a contract between companies are supposed to be signed during the upcoming visit by China’s Chairman Hu Jintao.”
Hu will be visiting Moscow from June 15 to 18 for the St Petersburg Economic Forum.
On Wednesday, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said the company planned to continue contract talks on June 14.
President Dmitry Medvedev said recently he hoped the two countries would sign the deal before the end of 2011 and wrap up years of talks to open a new export route to the world’s biggest energy market.
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said he had reached a broad agreement on the deal at a meeting in Moscow in May with his counterpart Wang Qishan.
MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti)