MOSCOW - The current economic difficulties in Russia call for promotion of military-industrial cooperation between Russia and China to a new level, a Russian expert said Thursday.

China's military-industrial complex is the most promising sector for cooperation with Russia, as its defense complex is more diversified, said Vasily Kashin, senior research fellow at the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

In a report published ahead of the Russian-Chinese conference on cooperation scheduled for March 25-26 in China's Shanghai city, Kashin noted that Russia's state-run and private companies already have successful cooperation experiences with China's military-industrial complex in the civil sphere.

Kashin raised the example of a joint-venture project of LED production in cooperation between Russia's state-run hi-tech company Ruselectronics and China Electronics Technology Group Corp.

He also mentioned a strategic cooperation agreement between Russian mining and energy company En+ Group and China North Industries Group Corporation.

A new industrial cooperation system could be set up between Russia and China on the basis of successful experiences and meticulous use of "strong points of the industrial capacities of the two countries," Kashin said.

He specified that representative companies of China's defense industry could serve as a bridge for establishing cooperation with Chinese hi-tech civil enterprises.

The expert expressed the hope that industrial integration could be listed as an important political goal at the state level for both Moscow and Beijing.