ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin called here on Monday for more energy cooperation between China and Russia.

    The two presidents made the call when they held talks here on Monday, according to Chinese officials.

    During the talks, Hu said that energy cooperation between the two countries is facing vital opportunities for development.

    Hu said that both countries are implementing the energy diversification strategy and they can complement each other in various aspects. "There is a great potential and bright prospects for both countries to undertake cooperation in energy, " Hu said.

    The Chinese president said that some major progress has been achieved on Sino-Russian energy cooperation and that he hoped both sides would make concerted efforts to implement major energy cooperation projects.

    Putin, on his part, hailed energy cooperation between Russia and China. Substantial achievements have been scored in this field, he said.

    He said that the Russian side would take further measures to actively promote economic cooperation with China, especially in energy. Enditem