Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, reads a congratulatory letter of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the China-Russia energy business forum at the opening ceremony of the forum in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 29, 2018. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

BEIJING, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- China-Russia energy business forum opened in Beijing Thursday, where Vice Premier Han Zheng read the congratulatory letter of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the forum and addressed the opening ceremony of the event.

Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said that holding the forum was a significant consensus reached between the heads of state of China and Russia.

He said that President Xi paid high attention to the forum and specially sent a congratulatory letter.

Energy cooperation was an essential part of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, and one of the areas where both sides had staged the most important, fruitful and extensive pragmatic collaboration, said Han.

With the attention of the two heads of state and through concerted efforts of the governments and enterprises on both sides, China-Russia energy cooperation has seen positive and sustained development as well as substantial achievements, he said.

China and Russia are nations with significant global influence, and both are undertaking the important missions of working together to ensure global energy security and advance energy sustainable development across the world, Han said.

"The two countries are highly complementary and enjoy a collaborative advantage in energy cooperation. Such cooperation is durable, stable and profound," he said.

To maintain the positive development momentum in this regard, Han made four proposals. Firstly, business entities shall lead the cooperation and stick to the principles of mutual benefits, win-win results and being commercially viable.

Secondly, such cooperation shall be innovation-driven, aim to advance the integration of information technology with the energy sector, increase the input in innovation, strengthen cooperation in fundamental research on energy science and technology and target making joint technical breakthroughs on key technologies, core equipment and advanced standards so as to gain new vitality.

Thirdly, financial institutions shall become more deeply involved in bilateral energy cooperation while innovative financing shall be explored to beef up financial support in this respect.

Fourthly, a long-term planning shall be made to foster new growth points in bilateral energy cooperation so as to form a mutually dependent and more integrated cooperation along the whole industry chain.

Igor Sechin, the executive secretary of the Russian Presidential Commission for the Strategic Development of the Fuel and Energy Sector and Environmental Security and chief of Russian oil company Rosneft, attended the opening ceremony and read the congratulatory letter of Russian President Vladimir Putin.