BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Russian officials said the two countries would increase mutual investment in a more "flexible" and "pragmatic" way.

    The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China and the Ministry for Economic Development (MED) of the Russian Federation had reached consensus to expand collaboration in the fields of energy, machinery manufacturing and industrial chemicals, said NDRC director Zhang Ping at the China-Russia Investment Forumon Friday.

    He said cooperation in logistics, agriculture, telecommunications, banking and insurance would also be extended.

    Zhang said when it comes to facing the global financial crisis, the two countries should beef-up mutual investment and promote mutual benefits by giving full play to comparative advantages.

    With continuous joint efforts, the two countries would certainly ride out the hardships, Zhang said.

    Nabiullina Elvira, minister of the MED of Russia, said China was a reliable trade partner with Russia. The trade volume between the two countries hit 50 billion U.S. dollars last year, but there was still potential for further expansion.

    Vice Premier of China Li Keqiang and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov attended the meeting and witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding to improve the mechanism of the Sino-Russian investment promotion conference, and the summary of minutes on formulating programs for Sino-Russian investment cooperation. They also witnessed the signing of other cooperation agreements between the two countries.

    Alexander Zhukov stressed that the two nations should especially expand joint efforts in energy resources, which would be a key area for bilateral cooperation.

    Last month, the two nations signed an oil-for-loan deal, under which China offered Russia 25 billion U.S. dollars of a long-term loan and Russia would supply 300 million tonnes of oil through pipelines to China from 2011 to 2030.

    In 2008, China remained Russia's second largest trading partner only after the European Union. Russia ranked as China's ninth largest trading partner, compared to the seventh in 2007, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

    The China-Russia Investment Forum is an annual event designated to promote bilateral investment and cooperation. It was first kicked off in 2004 and saw the signing of 32 investment programs, involving a total investment of 4.36 billion U.S. dollars.