The president, on the second day of his official visit to Beijing, told students at Peking University: "Within the framework of this organisation we are able to agree on new directions of cooperation, including on the energy issue."

The SCO, a regional bloc comprising Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, primarily addresses security issues, but has recently moved to embrace various economic and social projects.

The Russian president said the economies of both Russia and China are growing rapidly, raising the importance of energy ties.

"We understand that in the future we will need additional sources of energy," he said. "We must develop both our own energy projects and projects connected with processing of various energy sources, including oil and gas."

Peking University, known as Beida, is China’s second oldest university and one of the country’s most selective. In English, the university retains the old name for Beijing.

Medvedev began the second day of his visit to China by visiting a monument on Tiananmen Square, and later met with the chairman of the National People’s Congress.

On Friday, he met with Chinese President Hu Jintao. The sides signed a joint declaration on a range of issues, in particular US plans to establish a global missile defence system, which the leaders said threatened the global strategic balance.