China and Russia should make joint efforts to raise bilateral trade and economic cooperation to a new level by adjusting the commodity trade structure, increasing mutual investments and enhancing coordination, visiting Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo said Tuesday.

In a speech at the Forum on Border and Inter-Regional Cooperation between China and Russia, Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, said bilateral trade and economic cooperation between the two neighboring countries has enjoyed substantial development in recent years and greatly contributed to the development of the Sino-Russian relations of strategic partnership.

Bilateral trade amounted to US$15.76 billion last year and showed a strong momentum in the first quarter of this year, increasing by 35.6 percent. It is expected to reach US$20.0 billion by the end of this year.

Noting that there is still great potential for further development for bilateral trade and economic cooperation, Wu suggested that some measures be taken by both China and Russia to fulfill the potential.

Since labor-intensive, low value-added products and primary products account for a big portion of total bilateral commodity trade, both countries should try to improve the commodity trade structure by increasing the technical competence of the products and enhancing their quality, Wu said.

To promote bilateral economic cooperation to a new level, both countries should actively increase mutual direct investments in the fields of energy and resources exploitation, infrastructure construction and hi-tech development, Wu said.

He spoke positively of the prosperous border trade and regional cooperation between China and Russia. The border trade amounted to US$3.52 billion last year, accounting for 22.3 percent of the total bilateral trade.

Highlighting the importance of drawing more competitive enterprises to get involved in bilateral trade and economic cooperation, Wu suggested that Chinese companies be encouraged to take part in the development of Russia's Far East and Siberian region and Russian enterprises be welcomed to join the Chinese government's campaigns of reinvigorating northeast China and developing the western region.

He also noted that both governments should try to improve the cooperation environment based on the principles of mutual benefits and trusts and enhance consultations and coordination on the major issues of bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

Russia is the first leg of Wu's four-nation European tour which will also take him to Bulgaria, Denmark and Norway.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2004)