BEIJING — Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli met on Oct 31 with Russian oil company Rosneft chief Igor Sechin to pave the way for a meeting between Chinese and Russian presidents during the APEC summit in Beijing in Nov.

President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will meet on the sidelines of the APEC leaders’ meeting, Zhang said.

Zhang said his meeting with Sechin aims to implement the consensus reached by the leaders, and make preparations for their meeting.

Hailing fruitful bilateral energy cooperation, Zhang hoped both sides would fulfill their oil supply projects, and expand offshore crude oil trade.

Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli (R) meets with Igor Sechin, chief of Russian oil company Rosneft, in Beijing, capital of China, Oct 31, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

He also urged the two countries to cooperate more on upstream oil exploration and engineering services, and push forward the construction of the joint-funded oil refinery in China’s northern city of Tianjin.

China and Russia should work on new cooperation projects to promote greater progress of their energy cooperation, Zhang added.

Sechin, in his turn, vowed joint efforts with China to promote new achievements from bilateral large-scale cooperation projects in oilfield.

When Xi and Putin met in May this year, the two sides sealed a deal on constructing the East Route of the China-Russia gas pipeline.

In a 30-year period starting from 2018, Russia will export 38 billion cubic meters of gas to China through the pipeline every year.