At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to China and attend the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) from May 20 to 21.This is the seventh meeting of the two since March last year and the second this year.

Putin's visit has attracted wide attention and heated discussion as it is his first trip abroad since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis earlier this year and also his first appearance at a multilateral diplomatic event. In an interview with Chinese media on the eve of his visit, Putin claimed Russia's cooperation with China has reached an all-time high, saying the two sides were ready to expand ties in numerous spheres.

An important declaration

During Putin's visit, the two heads of state will sign and announce a joint declaration on a new, developing phase in the relationship between the countries, according to Cheng Guoping, Chinese vice Foreign Minister.

A record package of agreements

According to Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, there are a record 43 bilateral trading documents under negotiation. He said at least 30 agreements could be signed.

Joint Sino-Russian naval exercise

Ushakov also confirmed that the two presidents will attend the opening ceremony of the "Joint Sea 2014" drill on May 20. China and Russia will hold a joint naval drill in the northern part of the East China Sea between May 20 and 26, Liang Yang, senior captain of the Chinese navy announced.

A contract without 'the last number'

Chinese vice Foreign Minister Cheng said China and Russia are exchanging views on the price of natural gas, and will try to sign a cooperation agreement during Putin's visit. A draft contract for Russia's Gazprom to export natural gas to China is nearly complete, and will be signed on condition of a reasonable price, said Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller on May 17. He said there is only one question left, but the two countries have already reached an agreement so the remaining work will simply be writing a number.

A multilateral summit facing Asia

Besides Putin's bilateral activities, another important multilateral event for him will be attending the fourth summit of CICA where heads of state and government from 13 countries have confirmed attendance.

Referring to the question of Ukraine, Russian ambassador to China Andrei Denisov said it will not be discussed since there is no relation with the national security of Asian countries while there are more proper occasions with Europe.

A shared history to commemorate

Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory over fascism and a range of joint events will be held. This will be discussed during the meeting, according to Denisov.

Other events will also be discussed, including Russia-China Youth Friendly Exchanges Years and it is hoped Russia might be more openhanded in reserved military technology cooperation.