Foreign and Military Affairs

Russian republic expects further co-op with China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-11 22:17

MOSCOW - The Russian Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) expected further cooperation with China on infrastructure construction, its president Yegor Borisov said Saturday.

"China is eyeing construction of a sea transport corridor via the Sakha Republic and the Arctic Ocean, while Russian republics which wanted to establish links with Europe are also interested in the project," Borisov said.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and Russia.

In the past decade, the Sakha Republic had signed several documents on cooperation with China, Borisov said.

He said the focus of these documents was mainly on timber extraction and processing but the two sides were discussing joint oil and gas exploration projects.

"China is showing its goodwill on the cooperation," he said.

Meanwhile, Borisov said the republic had introduced Chinese technologies and equipment in the past decade and widely used Chinese-made machines in such industries as agriculture, mining and gold mining.

He said the two sides could further promote bilateral cooperation in the above fields.

Sakha, located in the northeast of Russia, is the biggest Russian republic, covering one fifth of the country's total territory.