Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has been on an official trip to China since tuesday, when he arrived in Beijing after an official invite from the Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang. On the table for Medvedev’s visit are such activites as visiting the Anhui province of China, an online chat with some Chinese “netizens” on the popular news website, Xinhuanet.com, and a talk with Li Keqiang as they co-chair the 18th prime minister’s meeting between China and Russia. The annual meeting is considered an important tool for keeping communication and cooperation open between the two countries.

That cooperation and communication seems to be paying off for China, as Dmitry Medvedev just signed an $85 billion dollar deal to provide China with oil. The deal between the two giant nations includes plans to start building an oil refinery in Tianjin, which is just east of Beijing, as Medvedev revealed in the aforementioned talk with Chinese citizens on Xinhuanet.com. Medvedev also said that Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil producer, will be the one supplying 70 million barrels of crude oil to China over the next ten years, as per the new found agreement.

China has risen as number one in the growing energy market, overtaking the United States as the largest oil importer, mostly due to a stable economy and rapidly growing automobile industry. This deal with Russia will provide a more stable source for Chinese consumers, who currently rely on oil supplies from the incredibly unstable Persian Gulf.

On the topic of the new deal, Dmitry Medvedev was quoted as saying that the agreement “testifies to the fact that we have reached a higher and a brand new level of cooperation.” Li Keqiang, in a similar vein, was quoted as saying on the topic, “Bilateral relations have never reached such high levels. It is a good thing because we are neighbors.” Trade is, obviously, expected to boom between the two nations as a result of this deal, which will be a welcome boost for both economies.

[Image courtesy of Wikimeida Commons.]