By Wang Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-09 07:30

Priorities should be identified in forging all-around economic cooperation among Central Asian countries, Russia and China, a senior Chinese official said Thursday.

Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said: "For Euro-Asian regional economic cooperation, we should identify key sectors, including energy, investment and tourism, and give them priority.

"After making breakthroughs in these areas, the cooperation can gradually expand to cover science, technology and culture," he said at the opening ceremony for the second Euro-Asia Economic Forum in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.

The forum, which will focus on energy, tourism, financing and education, has attracted 1,400 delegates from more than 20 countries, including Tajikistan, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, New Zealand, the Philippines and China.

Jia, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said that at present and for a period to come, priorities for Euro-Asian regional economic cooperation should go to transportation, energy and telecommunication infrastructures.

Shu Yinbiao, vice-general manager of State Grid Corp, told China Daily the capacity of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) grid will expand to 1.28 billion kW by 2010, up from 777 million kW in 2005.

By that time, China's capacity share in the regional grid will reach 900 million kW from the current 600 million kW, he said.

SCO, a regional organization founded in 2001, comprises China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, with Pakistan, Mongolia, Iran and India being observers.

Sergey Terechshenko, former prime minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, said it is possible for China and Kazakhstan to jointly develop renewable energy, such as bio-fuels, hydropower, wind power and solar energy.

Kazakhstan has the leading technology for bio-fuel production, while China has skills in the construction of wind turbines and hydropower generators. The potential for bilateral cooperation is huge, Terechshenko said.

Euro-Asian countries should work on more joint projects, rather than just bilateral cooperation, Wu Guihui, deputy director of the energy bureau under the National Development and Reform Commission, said.

The Euro-Asia Economic Forum is jointly sponsored by the SCO Secretariat, the SCO Business Council, the United Nations Development Program, the secretariat of Eurasian Economic Community, China Development Bank and the Shaanxi provincial government.

During the two-day forum, participants will discuss cooperation and development in the fields of energy, tourism, education and finance.