he starts on t.v. don't come. to the line from moscow had minds in his first major interview since he was forced from office in june paraguay's deposed leader ferdinando lugo revealed he was ousted under threat of widespread violence by the opposition the country's been isolated by other south american nations since. the mood of anger rises in saudi arabia with more protests planned after the deaths of two activists at a rally pensions of dissidents a lack of political freedoms and civil rights. pursued west's continues to ignore. an un peace envoy to syria kofi annan wants the security council to take

a tougher stance the more in both the government and opposition of consequences if there's no cease fire calls for no relief for the common people who continued suffering from this for. the next russia's ambassador to china the two countries current and future relations in spotlight. the interview show on. the program. as china. second largest economy rush to take advantage of being in such.

trade between the two countries is growing steadily of new projects underway and still great potential especially in the energy that is such a blessing for sure. has it today will be discussing the present and the future of russian cooperation with the russian ambassador. during the twentieth century the relationship between russia and china was like a seesaw turning from one minute to jovial backslapping and the next but things improved dramatically after the fall decided to me and in the ninety's china was an important client for russian military exports and lately the two countries have been focusing much on the energy sector the current russian ambassador to china. is one of the most competent experts on

a ship in russia he used to have the foreign minister far east into china department and served as deputy minister for a number of years in the seventy's mr ross a first went to beijing to work in the song a trade mission and returned there in two thousand and five to hand the russian embassy. that's still a mystery welcome to the program. we're here today to elaborate on president put in some recent visit to china it was a very important event in terms of russia's foreign policy and the media were mainly speculating on it with. in mind. for instance when putin emerged from the plane in the gene they took note of who was accompanying came those who were gaspar alexei miller eager situ number all snuffed mr talker of head of trance nafta and mr kerry and go ahead overall saddam he would that's what's caught everybody's attention would you agree that this visit was mainly about

energy and you simply easy. certainly i wouldn't agree with this is excellent our bilateral agenda with china is highly multifaceted. that said energy is certainly a very important you found the most important aspect you know bilateral economic relations. last year with their holding of trade with china it's eighty three billion dollars and their export to import ratio at about fifty fifty interviews or says made up sixty percent over experts to china because this is a record rate that speaks for itself. on the other hand there are quite a few other promising projects on the table which we keep discussing. so the president being accompanied by a large group of high ranking energy professionals was no accident but of many goshi sion in beijing was comprehensive and substantive and that goes for energy

trade as well. he's. courting to media reports there is an ongoing bargaining process ever since two thousand and six over the price and. is there any hope. is that a negotiated reference price any time soon but. i find it rather difficult to act as a fortune teller but i am optimistic we can see policymakers in both russia and china send positive signals to their respective corporations encouraging them to strike a bargain specifically the presidential visit we're discussing has come up with a task for the relevant agencies in preparation for a meeting of prime ministers which is to take place in russia this fall the dates are yet to be determined. but it is enviro it agencies do you mean the foreign ministries primarily means energy ministries in both sides as well as gas brown in

their chinese counterparts so the aura to prepare for the ministerial meeting should come up with a negotiated price by the time of the meeting. going back to a question of the bargaining and gas prices indeed started back in two thousand and six i was already stationed in beijing at the time our president publicly announced that the negotiation concerned to transit routes from russia to china the western range that runs through russia's territory and the eastern route which passes to the far east the total volume of sales and mounts is sixty or seventy billion cubic meters which is a lot ever since which is six years now the corporations and both sides have been negotiating this specifics of such cooperation and that is a very complex matter here with the but that's of keeping me translate what you are seeing from the diplomatic wing going to plane speak as far as i understand the chinese want to be all asked for gas then what europe piece is that correct and is

russia willing to say yes to china to lower prices. because we're going back to what i said about positive signals from policymakers russia does want to sell its. gas pipeline gas exports in china mean new opportunities precious trade with east asia china is the biggest market but it's not the only one in the region. china in turn does one russian gas which because it has in under supply of energy it is the regions of china that are meant to receive russian gas do suffer considerable shortage is energy resources. if this goes for sides china is pursuing a shift to environmentally friendly energy sources as a vital part of the economic strategy so we have a buyer who wants to buy and a seller discourse to sell. for a negotiated price the parties will end up with i understand you'd like me to give

you a specific rate in dollars per thousand cubic meters but i have no answer. in principle we keep telling our chinese friends their russia wants its downstream markets to be equally rewarding. that is willing to sell or gas to asian customers including china at no lower price than what we charge from europe. or after all which has been a customer for decades here to let me rephrase my question as far as i understand you just confirmed that this new x. for truth is very important for russia. right now so this means this is no longer a purely economic matter this is also a political matter does this mean that russia perhaps should buy on the price that list a little bit at least for the time being just make a little concession i would not say there are a concession is being made on either side is rather about a sensible compromise based on common sense primarily but it's up to experts to

define what common sense means in this particular deal was coming back to each party's logic our logic is clear our chinese counterparts explain theirs as follows for several years they've been. receiving gas through a pipeline from turkmenistan along the western route and then deal emerged to many stand offered low prices therefore our chinese partners explain they cannot buy russian gas at a price that is considerably higher than that from to clean a stand. there are other factors concerning china's domestic prices on energy resources they have considerable subsidies from the government and this should be considered to. again without going into detail about the political situation. i'm not sure if we can speak of a light at the end of the tunnel but i am absolutely sure that in the foreseeable future we will arrive at

a negotiated price. i haven't heard of any conflicts between moscow and turkmenistan concerning these gas supplies but many stand has limited dollars of gas right so they're not our immediate competitors. there is no disagreement between moscow and turkmenistan but each party is doing what it is supposed to do we're doing our part. of course from those two supply routes up the western and the eastern route but there are also other options. would you say in order to get russian gas prices lower china has been offering russia as in gas prone and other companies a stake in some joint projects in china. either in transporting gas or industry being it should do it but if you look all that is surely interesting but it definitely requires expert assessment. what do you imagine transportation tronson after head mr talkative has taken part in the visit is infrastructure

already ready to start deliveries since six months or is there still a work place to be done. we certainly need to do the prepared to work premier li we need to grieve on the routes and the prices. won't take long judging from the experience of building in oil pipeline from russia's rodino to china's east coast pipeline that stretches to three kilometers across russian territory and another nine hundred kilometers across china the corporations involved in the project including this a talker of transnet managed to build this pipeline within a very short period of time modern technology and its capabilities make pipeline construction operation even when the hearing is s. challenging as it is in the. territory. let's move on to political issues now russia and china's positions often consomme. for

example on syria or on iran or on that so let's take syria for example do you think that china could possibly participate somehow in resolving the syrian conflict. in fact china is very much involved in the peace effort and it's not just my impression chinese diplomats have been very active in syria especially in recent months russia is in china's attitudes on a number of important international issues are either similar or aligned or in tune with each other. and i would see this reflects our similarity in perception with regard to present day international realities as little blips little you do in your view so that russia and china are aligning themselves against a third party state or group of states deal is that we have a common outlook on things like the role of the united nations international law is

just the quality of all countries the indivisibility of security and so on. multiple there it seems to me we both consider the un charter and other international conventions as a fundamental guidelines we agree on these principles and that's why we often act in unity including the case of syria says syria as a russian ambassador to china spotlight will be back shortly we'll continue this interview in the town so stay with us. wealthy british style exact. spot on the. market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with max cons are the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our. live .

welcome back to the spotlight i'm just a reminder that my guest on the show today is a russian ambassador to china. your excellency there are two large international organizations where russia and china play a dominant role you match in the u.s. but there are also are there are going incisions i mean the shanghai cooperation organization the former shanghai fog and brics. which one of the two would you see is more important today they're both important. i wouldn't draw a line between them. which wants more effective. c.e.o. has existed for more than ten years we recently marked its tenth anniversary. well this year always the brainchild of the russian foreign ministry in fact the brics is also largely

a pet project of the foreign ministry. and it was initiated in two thousand and six by no one other than president putin. so if you want to do it the organization itself was his only initiative and the first stage it comprised three states russia china and india. later but it included brazil in finally thousand africa. i don't think it's possible to measure the efficiency and significance of each organization is they all have their specific character first of all responsibility in the interest of the c.e.o. in central asia. it is acknowledged there are russia china and their alliance within the organization is of great importance. deals with matters of security. cooperation it also deals though the degree with economic cooperation it has a number of large projects in this area. as you know but an enlargement of this

organization is being discussed right now. many other countries. already participate in the work of this organization. as observers or delhi partners. actually our foreign policy makers raise the question of a further eventual enlargement of the arena zation such by means of its major partners neighboring states but there are still some technical financial and legal issues that must be solved prior to such an enlargement well let's hear more about the shanghai cooperation organization in a report by spotlights the media. after almost all of russia's east european neighbors join nader the country turned to beijing in search of el eyes as a result the shanghai cooperation organization. was founded in two thousand and one then you went to national body in one nine hundred china kazakstan kurdistan russia to down and inspect a stand was initially given the shoulder by the west things changed after barack

obama became us president that was when nato started seeking as your systems in normalizing the situation in afghanistan and the latest meeting of the. last month afghanistan joint for other countries iran india pakistan and mongolia with observer status the beijing meeting supported iran's right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes rejected any military intervention in syria and then they'd a missile defense shield and you were in the the borders of a sea all member states the decisions only tense if i the only one is ations image as a counterbalance to the nato alliance. the summit of the c.e.o. has been attended by mahmoud ahmadinejad who is an odds with the u.s. which is up at the i'm not going to ask you if this was

a deliberate demonstration of some anti western movement although it clearly have to place but i'm sure you will definitely deny but. i will tell you the truth or at least the way i see it because in the first time mr i've been injured it can be such a meeting iran has been an observer with the organization for a long time for this reason. he's taken part in the summit in beijing look to me if it would still. break send asio and what distinguishes these two organizations is that the u.s. . there's not a member while russia and china are with well the u.s. just can't be everywhere russia is also missing in summer games ations where the us is a member. but . only in the. us.

when i was talking about russia's in china stand on international issues i deliberately used words like similar mind orienting in this case i would say were are in tune with each other there is no disagreement with regard to the logic of the future su enlargement. there are certain differences in approach as far as specifics are concerned such as the time frame and the preconditions for enlargement that have to be met which includes legal financial and institutional issues. but i've got again. there are joint expert panels working on these issues and i think the organization will definitely expand in a few years those will. russia is evolving relationship with china is getting a lot of attention these days diplomats are evidently doing a lot to promote it but as we grow closer and barriers go down aren't you concerned

that russia may eventually become a mere supplier of raw materials to china. chinese obviously superior to rushing terms of economic power. discourse i would say that is debatable it was the way i see the former soviet union used to sell its oil and gas and other commodities to the west for decades and i don't remember anyone seriously question whether we were becoming a roman tiriel appendage for the west. but of comes up you see you make do with what you've got. there are a number of countries australia for one whose g.d.p. is largely made up of commodity exports to china. particularly iron ore and coal exports are the source of justice to those. and i haven't heard the australians obsess over becoming china's ruins here with appendage either. at the same

time we'd all be surprised if china were to be interested in russia to acknowledge your hard tech products just remember there was a story about china buying russian axes just because they needed r.n. and would that rather sounds like a joke and i do remember that whatever the case this definitely did not happen in the seventy years that i was in bath or to china but you really is china interested in russian technology i don't think it will take you by surprise if i give you the concrete fact we've constructed two blocks of a nuclear power plant in the eastern province junks to the so-called gen one nuclear power plant these two units have generated electricity since two thousand and six two thousand and seven and are part of the chinese power line but according to experts these units are the best ones in the world in respect of such technical characteristics as reactor protection which is really hard after the fukushima disaster so these power units are estimated by chinese experts as the best in the

world. recently at the doings of president putin's visit to china we agreed to build another two units of the new. powerplant that's why my security nko was also present there with mr putin. in the normal course of events in a whole that's the way it will be in december this year we play into a the foundation for the third unit which will cost a few billion dollars. but they have a good few days. as we can see chinese businessmen are very interested in russia the realized they can reason big money here us in a number of chinese businessmen here with perfect knowledge of the russian language which means they have done a good in at least five years of their lives to learning in order to make money specifically in russia. but what about ordinary people in china are they interested in russia people often see these days the east of russia will soon be populated by

the chinese do you think they are interested in moving here. if you look at china's written history. and we can find then as to conical there were kept busy day after day. the past two thousand years scrupulously of the. negative story hundred years is not that big of a deal for them but that is true so china was expanding geographically and economically but it never really waged long term wars and to see honestly it's never been successful. either in its asian history nor at present time so they've been successful in fighting long term worse they used to conquer the world and now the aim to do it by means of commerce and that is where china and every individual

chinese trade are still running here you can actually pick up a few tricks from them from their russian market is generally here which. is neighbors we have a common border of four thousand three hundred kilometers. naturally the chinese are too wise to overlook these opportunities just as the russians are to explore the chinese market and corporation potential in an article titled russia and the changing world president putin highlighted the need to catch the chinese wind in russian sales this image is quite relevant it is also important for a sales to face the right direction and i'm sure there will be plenty of wind are chinese partners are generally willing to cooperate but. alright i have time for just one more question that is of interest to me people in russia as far as i know hong kong and macau have introduced visa free travel for russian tourists but what about mainland china is it going to follow suit which of speaking of hong kong

a couple of years ago i was authorized by the government to sign an agreement in dubai under which russian tourists don't have to team visas to stay there for a certain period of time this has increased the number of russian tourists going to hong kong five times. a month ago i was interested to send a similar agreements with mco it is supposed to enter into force a while after the exchange of diplomatic notes to ensure that all the details have been finalized one is doable so far is mainly in chinese concerned to my knowledge last year about eight hundred thirty five thousand chinese visit russia for every writing of reasons at the same time those two point five million russians went to china. that is to say russian visitors coming to china outnumber the chinese in russia

a little bit of three times or four times what we are currently negotiating visa free entry for certain categories of visitors just given the disproportion this is a very delicate issue concerned organizations in russia are watching it very closely it was which i believe is a good idea but bank you thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest today was said gate as a russian ambassador to china and that's it for now for a few spotlight will be until then r.t. and take.

and. i.