China and Russia are making joint efforts to maintain steady development of bilateral trade to offset impacts of the international financial turmoil, a Chinese political advisor said on Tuesday.

Bilateral trade was merely US$2.5 billion in January this year, down 40 percent year-on-year, due to the financial crisis, said Liu Guchang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body.

The decrease mainly resulted from a drop in imports from China because of capital shortage of Russia, according to Liu, Chinese ambassador to Russia.

"The crisis has impacted bilateral economic cooperation projects, with some coming to a standstill," he said.

"The two countries' leaders and relevant government departments have been engaged in close contacts since the international financial turmoil, and have exchanged ideas in depth for several times," he said.

China and Russia signed seven agreements last month on a package cooperation program for energy resources.

The agreements include a pipeline construction project, a long-term crude oil trading deal and a financing scheme between the China Development Bank and the Russia Oil Pipeline Transport Company.

According to the agreements, the crude oil trading volume is estimated to reach 15 million tonnes.

"This showed the two sides' determination in combating the financial crisis through cooperation," Liu said.

Official statistics showed that Russian-Chinese bilateral trade posted a rapid growth in the first half of last year but slowed in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, as the global economic turmoil spread.

Trade between the two countries was valued at US$56.8 billion last year, up 18 percent year-on-year. It was sharply down from 44.3 percent of growth rate in 2007, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

The senior diplomat said the two countries agreed to take the opportunity of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations, which falls this year, to comprehensively promote Sino-Russian exchanges.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2009)