By Li Hongmei

China and Russia may reach a basic agreement on the supply of Russian gas to the Asian giant by the end of March -- in time for the debut visit to Moscow by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.

On February 25, Wang Qishan, Chinese vice premier and chairman on the Chinese side for the Sino-Russian energy cooperation commission, met in Beijing with his Russian counterpart Arkady Dvorkovich, Russia's deputy prime minister and the Commission 's Russian chairman, said Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The meeting has attained substantive achievements, injecting fresh impetus into the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of coordination, according to Hua.

Both sides have already reached the consensus to enhance crude deal, and the two governments agreed to bolster the negotiations on the eastern route of gas pipelines. So far, both parties have confirmed the 38 billion cubic meters/year of gas supply to China through the eastern pipeline, and China and Russia will continue the research and verification in the fields of liquefied natural gas in the eastern route and cooperation in the western pipeline.

"Russia's Gazprom and the Chinese partners are in active consultations and talks over gas supply conditions and expect to reach the basic agreement by end March," Dvorkovich said on the sidelines of the Chinese-Russian energy cooperation commission meeting in Beijing.

Contractual terms for the supply of gas may be finalized within several months, Dvorkovich was also cited as saying.

In 2006, Beijing and Moscow signed an initial agreement for the supply of up to 68 billion cubic meters/year of gas, and agreed to build two gas pipelines -- the western route dubbed Altai and the eastern route.