Russia-China pipeline to be largest infrastructure project in world – premier

Gas Flame file photo

(Interfax – June 29, 2015)

Russian Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev has announced that the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, which is set to run from Russia to China, will be the world’s largest infrastructure project, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 29 June.

Speaking at a ceremony dedicated to the start of construction of the Chinese part of the pipeline, Medvedev said that a “new phase” had begun in realizing “the largest infrastructure project in the world”.

He lauded the “very high level of cooperation” between Russia and China, which, he said, made the Power of Siberia project possible. He added that the pipeline would “significantly broaden” cooperation between the two countries, “not only in the energy sphere, but in related industrial sectors”.

The pipeline’s construction, the prime minister said, “is going according to schedule”.

According to the prime minister, Russia and China plan to cooperate in a wide range of sectors, including atomic energy, the coal industry and the development of new energy sources, Interfax reported later that day.

Medvedev also expressed hope for a speedy agreement with China on the construction of a second gas pipeline, this time along the so-called “Western route”, according to a separate Interfax report published the same day.

“I am confident that in the near future we will reach a final agreement on the construction of a second Sino-Russian gas pipeline, for the supply of gas along the ‘Western route’,” Medvedev said.

 

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