Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan (L) and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin (R) sign the memorandum after the seventh round of the Sino-Russian energy negotiators' meeting in Moscow, Russia, on May 31, 2011. [Xinhua/Liu Lihang]

China and Russia may achieve a breakthrough in their stalled natural gas talks during President Hu Jintao's state visit to Russia next week, Assistant Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping said on Tuesday.

Related departments and companies from both countries are negotiating based on the principles of mutual benefit and common development, said Cheng at a news conference in Beijing.

China and Russia have started their natural gas cooperation negotiations since 2006.

In 2009, China's largest state oil and gas company CNPC and Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom reached a preliminary deal on natural gas cooperation. However, the two companies had not come to an agreement on gas prices yet by November last year.

China and Russia have agreed to further boost energy cooperation across a variety of fields. Vice Premier Wang Qishan reached the concensus with his Russian counterpart Igor Sechin at the seventh round of the Sino-Russian energy negotiators' meeting in Moscow.

President Hu will visit Russia from June 15 to 18.