Putin ratifies gas supply deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ratified a gas supply agreement with China via the so-called Eastern route.

"The agreement is aimed at strengthening Russian-Chinese energy cooperation, and defines the main terms of the natural gas supply from Russia to China, including the cross-border section of the gas pipeline across the Amur River (the Heilong River in China) near Blagoveshchensk (capital of the Amur region in the Russian Far East) and China's border city of Heihe," an online official statement said.

The agreement was passed on April 24 by parliament's lower house, or the State Duma, and approved by the upper chamber, the Federation Council, five days later.

During Putin's visit to China in May 2014, the two countries signed a 30-year gas supply contract that will see the East-Route Pipeline start providing China with 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from 2018.

On Saturday, Putin signed another agreement into law, approving the establishment of the BRICS currency reserves pool.

The consensus of the five BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - to have a joint pool was announced in 2013.

In July, Putin hailed the proposal of the currency reserves pool as one of the practical steps "intended to strengthen international financial architecture and to make it more balanced and just".

(China Daily 05/04/2015 page4)