Russian and Chinese politicians and businessmen attended a joint investment forum in Beijing on the sidelines of the Russian prime minister's two-day visit to the Chinese capital.
Russia's economics minister said the event yielded eight agreements on Chinese investment in the Russian timber industry and the development of ore deposits in Siberia.
China will invest $518 million in two polymetallic deposits in Siberia, and contribute $5.5 million in the construction of a business center in Moscow and $70 million for a glass-making plant near St. Petersburg, German Gref said.
Chinese investors have already channeled more than $70 million into a residential complex, Baltic Pearl, in St. Petersburg, and plan to increase total investment in housing projects in Russia's second largest city to $3 billion, Gref said.
Russian business also showed their interest in investing in China's economy.
Russian aluminum giant RusAl, one of the world's top three aluminum producers, plans to buy a second cathode plant in China to meet its growing demand for cathode units, Andrei Raikov, the head of the company's supply division, told a presentation at the Russian National Exhibition in Beijing.
"We are open for cooperation and are ready to consider any investment projects," Raikov said.
Gref also said Russia's state-controlled truck maker KAMAZ plans to open a plant in Dalian in eastern China.
"We have reached an agreement to open a KAMAZ automaking plant in Dalian," he told journalists at the Russian-Chinese investment forum.
An agreement to this effect was to be signed during the Russian government's visit, but the sides failed to prepare the required documents on time, said Svetlana Ganeyeva of the ministry.
