Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday held talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Wu Bangguo, the official number two in the ruling Communist Party, following his summit with President Hu Jintao on Thursday. Putin visited the northwestern city of Xian later on Friday to discuss cross-border cooperation with Chinese regional leaders. "We hope to help China develop its western regions, while we would like to cooperate in developing Russia's eastern Siberia," he said after the talks on Thursday. Putin told Hu that Russia would continue to expand energy cooperation with China, but made no public mention of a key oil pipeline that appears likely to be built to the Sea of Japan rather than northeastern China. On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said Russia would make a decision on the route of the pipeline in the next two months. Speaking in Beijing, Zhukov said Russia was also considering a plan to increase oil exports to China by rail over the next 10 years, state media said. After the talks on Thursday, Putin hailed the signing of an agreement finalizing the eastern section of the two countries' 4,300-kilometre border. "Both Russia and China have a high level of praise for this agreement and both sides are satisfied," Putin said. "Through (our) efforts the entire border issue has been resolved." The two sides also agreed on closer cooperation in natural resources, environmental protection and trade. --more 1411 Local Time 1111 GMT
