PRIMAKOV: CHINA CAN INVEST IN CONSTRUCTION OF POWER PLANTS IN RUSSIA

BEIJING, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - China can invest independently in the construction of electric power plants on Russian territory, prominent Russian politician, ex-premier Yevgeny Primakov, the honored chairman of the Russian-Chinese committee for friendship, peace and development and the president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Russian journalists on Sunday in Beijing.

He arrived in Beijing on March 31 and met with Chinese honored chairman of this committee, former foreign minister Qian Qichen and cochairman of the committee Li Guixian.

"We discussed the necessity to boost economic relations," Primakov told RIA Novosti. According to him, the Chinese side intends to set up enterprises on Russian territory independently.

"Our joint program of Russian electric energy supplies to China is promising," he noted. In his words, Chinese companies can build power plants on Russian territory independently using Russian engineering products.

Yevgeny Primakov highly assessed the results of his Beijing meetings. The Russian-Chinese committee for friendship, peace and development is forming a public basis for varied contacts between the two countries, he said.

The next session of the committee will be held in Moscow in late May 2005, he reported.