MOSCOW - Russia welcomes direct investment from China in an effort to expand bilateral cooperation on trade and finance, a Russian official said Friday.

Vladimir Milovidov, head of the Federal Financial Markets Service said at a meeting with Li Hui, the Chinese ambassador to Russia, that China has successfully responded to the impact of the global financial crisis and attained internationally known achievements.

Russia highly appreciates China's policies on financial market supervision and is willing to share its experience with China on this field, Milovidov said.

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Russia also welcomes direct investment from China to promote bilateral cooperation on trade and finance, he said.

Li noted that the leaders of both countries have remarked that China-Russia relations are at an all-time high and that bilateral ties increased to a new level in 2010.

Li valued the official launch of ruble-yuan trading in Russia's Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange on Dec 15, saying it marked another stage of bilateral financial cooperation.

China hopes to further promote cooperation with Russia on trade and finance, boost mutual investment and achieve more in pragmatic cooperation, Li said.

Li said the cooperation will lay a solid substantial foundation to the overall promotion of the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination.

In November, trading in yuan-ruble had already begun in China's Shanghai Stock Exchange.