BEIJING, NOV 9: Russia and China will bury the last vestiges of the border dispute, sign a mega nuclear power deal and discuss ways to revive the stalled trade ties during the visit of Russian President Boris Yeltsin which began today.

Yeltsin's whistle-stop state visit, which includes a summit with President Jiang Zemin, will aim at cementing a ``strategic cooperative partnership'' between both nations and boosting bilateral trade ties, which have so far failed to keep pace with improving ties.

The relation between India and Pakistan will also come up for discussions during the summit, Itar-Tass reported today. ``Contradictions between India and Pakistan will not remain off board the Sino-Russian consultations on international issues including the situation in Afghanistan, Cambodia and the Korean peninsula,'' the Russian news agency said.

Yeltsin, in his arrival statement, termed the proposed declaration on long-running border dispute as a ``big success'' saying, ``the border demarcation alone made it worth coming here''. ``We have developed the kind of relationship with Jiang Zemin which allows us to switch immediately to business conversation without any preparatory talks,'' he told newsmen.Only a few miles of the disputed 4300-km-long Sino-Russian border remain to be finally demarcated.

Under the proposed nuclear agreement, China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) will order two Russian 1,000 MW reactors for what will be the country's largest nuclear power station.

Senior Chinese officials are also reported to have said that if the US failed to revoke the ban on American companies selling nuclear power technology and equipment to Beijing, China would turn to Russia, Canada and France to get the same. Russian first Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, who arrived early this morning, hoped to kick-start the trade ties by promoting big projects.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.