(Yicai Global) Dec. 20 -- Russia is in talks with Chinese investors over a USD20 billion high-speed rail link that will cross the border between the two countries, Sputnik News quoted Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev as saying yesterday.

"We talked about a high-speed rail project between Harbin and Vladivostok. It will be a very big, attractive project," he said, without disclosing further details.

Harbin is a city in China's northern province of Heilongjiang. Vladivostok is a port city in southeastern Russia, close to the Chinese and North Korean borders.

The Russian city could become home to the first special economic zone under China's Belt and Road Initiative, Wang Zhan, president of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said in May. This could be a reason the two nations are looking to improve cross-border transport links to the region.

Often compared with the ancient Silk Road, the One Belt, One Road initiative was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. It is a grand 30- to 40-year plan for a vast infrastructure and trade route boasting a major network of railroads, highways, ports and pipelines embracing the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa.

Earlier reports suggested the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East had held talks with Dongfang International Construction Co., a China Railway International Group Co. division, in Beijing.