Investment from China can play a significant role in promoting Russia's modernization, especially in the Far East Region, a senior Russian expert on China told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Russia's modernization process is mainly boosted by major projects that Chinese investors can get involved in, according to Alexander Lukin,director of the Center for East Asia and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Studies at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Many projects would need the participation of Chinese investors, including the massive reconstruction in the far eastern city of Vladivostok and the Black Sea resort of Sochi, as well as the host venues of the 2012 summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Lukin said.

Noting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's upcoming visit to China, Lukin said the relationship between the two countries is better than ever before.

President Medvedev is scheduled to talk with Chinese leaders about bilateral ties, economic cooperation and global and regional issues, Lukin said.

The Sino-Russia bilateral trade volume rose 49.6 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of this year, reaching 30.7 billion U.S. dollars.

Lukin believed the total trade volume of this year would top 60 billion dollars, exceeding the 2008 level. It would achieve the goal of 60 to 80 billion dollars set by leaders between the two countries, he said.

As for the Russian section of the latest oil pipeline that delivers east Siberian oil to China, Lukin said Russia could double oil supplies to China via the pipeline to reach an annual output of 30 million tons.

Doubling oil supplies to China would diversify Russia's oil export, reduce its dependence on the Western market, and give it more bargaining chips in the global oil market, Lukin said.

"Every country should effectively make use of its resources. Russia should utilize incomes from energy export to boost development in other sectors," he said.

Meanwhile, Lukin acknowledged that there had been a shortage of breakthroughs in recent Russia-China relations, and he urged Moscow to take the initiative and seek more opportunities.

"Russia really needs new technologies, and naturally in the European part of Russia, the majority of the investment comes from Europe. But in the Far East and Siberia, the majority of investment will arrive from Japan, South Korea and China," he said.

"In politics, Moscow should cooperate more closely with Beijing inside the SCO on the issues Central Asia faces," Lukin said.

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