MOSCOW, Aug. 29 -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli arrived here Friday evening for a bilateral energy cooperation meeting and start of construction of a cross-border natural gas pipeline.

Zhang made this visit as China and Russia are seeking to expand bilateral cooperation to more areas and higher levels.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in May jointly witnessed the signing of a ground-breaking contract on building a pipeline linking Russia's natural gas fields in Siberia with major cities in north China.

During his visit, Vice Premier Zhang will fly to Siberia to view welding of the first roll of tubes on the pipeline, on which Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly witnessed the signing of a ground-breaking contract in May. Start of construction of the natural gas pipeline is a major step forward in implementing the important consensus reached by the presidents of the two countries.

Xi and Putin agreed to "establish a comprehensive energy cooperation partnership" between China and Russia when they met in Beijing in May.

The East Route of China-Russia natural gas pipeline will extend from the Kovyktin and Chayandin gas fields in east Siberia of Russia through northeast China to Beijing, and then to Shanghai on the east China seaboard. According to the contract, Russia will export 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to China through the pipeline for a 30-year period starting from 2018.

During his visit, Zhang is to co-chair the 11th Meeting of China-Russia Energy Cooperation Committee with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

The two sides will discuss ways to advance large-scale cooperative projects of strategic significance. As agreed by President Xi and President Putin, the two countries are striving to expand cooperation from common trade to wider areas, especially large-scale projects of aviation and aerospace, nuclear energy, machinery manufacturing, finance and cross-border infrastructure development.

Construction of the first cross-border bridge between China and Russia is underway in northeast China's Heilongjiang province. In addition to the natural gas pipeline, a railway bridge between the Chinese town of Tongjiang and the Russian city of Nizhneleninskoye in Siberia will link the Far East region with the Silk Road Economic Belt as proposed by Chinese President Xi. The two countries have defied the slowdown of world economy to register steady growth in bilateral trade, with two-way trade volume in the first five months of the year going up 4.3 percent year on year to 36.8 billion U.S. dollars.

China has been the top trade partner of Russia in the past consecutive four years.

Russia is the final leg of Zhang's three-nation tour, which has taken him to Turkmenistan and the Czech Republic.