Officials from Moscow and Beijing signed on Sunday 17 documents on cooperation.

Among them is a memorandum envisaging the supply of gas from a depot in West Siberia through the so-called Power of Siberia pipeline.

A framework agreement was also signed between Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom and the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) which does not include an advanced payment of USD 25 B to Gazprom for the pipeline's construction, Russia's news outlet Vedomosti reports.

"The issue of receiving the advanced payment is not on our agenda anymore," Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller is quoted as saying.

He added China might opt to contribute to funding the project lending money, but also that no specific talks had taken place on that matter.

Miller however made clear Gazprom was able to carry out the project using only its own funds.

The two countries' Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, were present while Russian and Chinese business representatives struck the deals.
 
Some USD 25 B in advance were generally agreed as the contract for gas deliveries from Russia to China was signed during the previous Beijing meeting of Putin and Xi in May.

Under an agreement signed this spring, some 38 billion cubic meters of gas are to be supplied to China which year in three decades, with most sources saying the deal's price tag is USD 400 B.

Last week Putin called cooperation with China one of Russia's key foreign policy priorities.

The latest series of documents was signed between Russia and China as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was beginning in China's capital.

The forum brings together 21 countries to discuss developments on the international scene.

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