Prime Minister Kasyanov signed seven accords with his visiting Chinese counterpart Zhu Rongji in St. Petersburg on 8 September concerning cooperation in a wide variety of areas. Among the most important are commitments to explore construction of a gas pipeline between the two countries and a Chinese agreement to buy five new Tu-204 passenger aircraft with an option to buy 10 more. That will increase the Russian share of the Chinese aircraft market to 10 percent and reduce Chinese purchases of U.S. Boeing planes. (RIA)