China and Russia on Sept 17 agreed to further enhance cooperation in trade, energy and other areas, setting a goal to double bilateral trade volume.

The agreement came as Premier Li Keqiang visited Russia and co-chaired, with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the 24th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government.

Premier Li said China stands ready to better align the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union, maintain the growing momentum of China-Russia trade and improve the level of trade and investment facilitation.

China has been Russia's top trading partner for nine years running. Last year, the two-way trade surged by 27.1 percent, breaking the $100 billion mark for the first time.

During the regular meeting, Premier Li and Medvedev were briefed by Vice-Premiers Sun Chunlan and Hu Chunhua, and Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Anton Siluanov, and deputy prime ministers Dmitry Kozak, Tatyana Golikova and Maxim Akimov.

The two heads of government also had in-depth exchanges of views on international and regional issues of common concern.

After the meeting, Premier Li and Medvedev signed a joint communique for the regular meeting, met the press and witnessed the signing of a series of agreements in such areas as investment, economy, trade, agriculture, nuclear energy, aviation, science and technology, and digital economy.

Premier Li arrived in St. Petersburg on the afternoon of Sept 16 for a three-day official visit to Russia.