President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin sent congratulatory letters to the China-Russia energy business forum that opened in Beijing Thursday.
Xi said in the letter that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination has been showing a strong momentum and constant advances in all fields. In recent years, substantial achievements have been scored in bilateral energy cooperation, which has played an active role in facilitating both countries' economic and social development.
"China is willing to work with Russia to take bilateral energy cooperation to a higher level," Xi said.
"Holding China-Russia energy business forum is an important consensus reached between President Putin and myself, with a goal to facilitate direct dialogue between companies from both sides, extensively explore cooperation opportunities and accurately synergize cooperation demand," Xi stressed.
Xi hoped that participants could share in-depth communication, cement consensus, consolidate existing cooperations and explore new opportunities for cooperation in the spheres of energy trade, investment and finance.
Putin said in his letter that the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination has been steadily strengthening and that energy cooperation, as a significant part of bilateral ties, has seen considerable development in recent years.
He said that the forum had a very rich agenda, with topics covering cooperation in fields including oil and gas, coal, electricity, investment, science and research and environmental protection, which fully reflected the extensive common interests of the energy enterprises of both countries.
Putin said he believed that participants from governments, energy corporations, financial institutions and think tanks could conduct informative and constructive dialogues at the forum and explore new types of cooperation for mutual benefits.
