China will boost coal imports from Russia to 15 million tons a year in the next five years, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing Russia's Interfax.

The volume may rise to at least 20 million tons a year over the subsequent 20 years, the report cited Russia's ambassador to China, Sergei Razov as saying. China currently imports 12 million tons a year of the fuel from Russia, the report said.

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In addition, the two countries will start building the third and fourth reactors at the Tianwan nuclear plant in Jiangsu province in the first half of next year, according to the report.