China and Russia signed 12 agreements, including agreements on natural gas and oil, as the premiers of the two countries held their 14th regular meeting in Beijing on Tuesday.

The signing ceremony was overseen by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after their talks in the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing.

Prior to their talks, Wen hosted a red-carpet welcome ceremony for Putin, who is on his first official visit to China since taking office in May 2008.

The agreements include a framework agreement on Russia's export of natural gas to China, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on high-speed train and an agreement on mutual notification of ballistic missiles and launch of carrier rockets.

Wen and Putin also reached consensus on cooperation in various fields.

They agreed to enhance political trust, address each other's core interests and major concerns, and support each other's efforts to safeguard sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.

They agreed to deepen trade on machinery and electronic products and oppose trade protectionism.

With regard to energy cooperation, they agreed to work together to make sure the oil pipeline, running from Skovorodino, Russia, to China's northeastern city of Daqing, could be completed by the end of 2010 and start stable oil supply in 2011.

They said the two countries decided to launch the west and east lines of the gas project simultaneously in a bid to start supplying gas between 2014 and 2015.

They agreed to enhance cooperation between localities by implementing an outline of regional cooperation between Northeast China and the Russian Far East Area and Eastern Siberia.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2009)