Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev co-chair the 24th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sept. 17, 2019. (Photo: Xinhua)

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (XINHUA) — China and Russia Tuesday agreed to further enhance cooperation in trade, energy and other areas, setting a goal to double bilateral trade volume.

The agreement came as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Russia and co-chaired the 24th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Li said China stands ready to better align the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union, maintain the growing momentum of China-Russia trade and improve the level of trade and investment facilitation.

He encouraged both sides to strive for the goal to double bilateral trade volume.

China has been Russia’s top trading partner for nine years running. Last year, two-way trade surged by 27.1 percent, breaking the 100-billion-US-dollar mark for the first time.

Li called on China and Russia to jointly implement the major energy projects, further open up markets to each other and explore the cooperation mode of oil refining and chemical engineering.

He also called for enhanced cooperation in science and innovation, finance, agriculture, sub-national and people-to-people exchanges.

For his part, Medvedev said Russia is willing to further expand trade with China and will work hard to realize the goal of doubling the trade volume.