China seeks to expand strategic partnership of cooperation with Russia during Premier Wen's upcoming visit to Russia, a Chinese official said here Thursday.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping made the remarks at a press briefing on Wen's visit to Russia and Tajikistan next week.

Cheng said Wen will exchange views on a spate of issues with Russian leaders, including enhancing mutual political trust, making plans for future cooperation, and cementing cooperation in trade and economy, energy, high technology, finance, agriculture and culture.

The two sides will also discuss on international and regional issues of common concerns, he said.

Wen will pay official visits to Russia and Tajikistan from Nov. 22 to 25 at the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Tajikistan Prime Minister Akil Akilov.

During his stay in Russia, Wen will also attend the 15th Chinese-Russian prime ministers meeting.

A joint communique, and a series of cooperative pacts at the levels of government and departments are expected to be signed on the sidelines of the Chinese-Russian prime ministers meeting, Cheng said.

Both China and Russia consider the bilateral strategic partnership of cooperation as a priority in mapping out their diplomacy, Cheng said, noting the partnership maintained sound developing momentum since it was forged in 1996.

China-Russia relations now have reached "an unprecedented high," he said.

Cheng also spoke highly of bilateral economic and trade ties, noting the cooperation had successfully overcome the impacts of global financial crisis and scored robust rebound.

According to the latest statistics, Sino-Russia bilateral trade volume stood at 45.1 billion U.S. dollars from January to October, surging 45 percent compared with the same period in 2009.

"Bilateral cooperation in economy and trade now stood at a new starting point," Sun Yongfu, director general of department of European affairs at Ministry of Commerce, said at the press briefing.

Sun said bilateral trade composition between China and Russia enjoyed constant improvement as Russia was increasing its machinery and electric exports to China.

Sun said although international financial crisis has slashed the two nations' trade transactions by over 30 percent in 2009, China's imports of Russia's machinery and electric products increased by 7.2 percent during that period, totaling 430 million U.S. dollars.

Moreover, energy cooperation realized historical breakthrough in the year of 2010, while eye-catching achievements had been made in regional cooperation between the two countries, Cheng said.

China will work with Russia to realize an early construction of natural gas pipelines, enhance cooperation in electricity trading and grid upgrading, and launch cooperation in nuclear energy, said Gu Jun, deputy director-general of the National Energy Administration's international department.

Enhancing practical cooperation in energy will be an important part during the meeting between Wen and his Russian counterpart, Gu said.