Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko welcomed, via video link, the participants of the China-Northeast Asia Expo forum, which is taking place in Changchun, China, from 23 to 27 August.
The Deputy Prime Minister emphasised that cooperation between Russia and China was reaching a qualitatively new level. In 2022, bilateral trade increased by a third and reached $185 billion. Mutual trade in the first half of 2023 grew by more than 30 percent year-on-year. The figures indicate that the goal set by the countries for 2024 – $200 billion – will be achieved ahead of schedule.
Boundless opportunities are opening up for businesses in both countries. Most regions of Russia and provinces of China are involved in cooperation, which provides a powerful incentive to create new points of growth and improve the well-being of citizens in both countries.
To date, the Russian-Chinese assets include 79 investment projects worth $165 billion in mining and minerals processing, construction of infrastructure facilities, and agricultural development.
“The plan for Russian-Chinese investment cooperation will create even more favourable conditions for investors. We are now at the final stage of updating it with our Chinese colleagues,” Dmitry Chernyshenko said. “We also agreed to start negotiations on updating the intergovernmental agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments.”
The Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that at the WTO, SCO, BRICS and the APEC forum, the two countries had similar positions on key issues on the international economic agenda, and that Russia and China were interested in jointly improving the WTO through reform in order to ensure the stable operation of transport and logistics chains and equal rules of international trade for all states.
“We see great opportunities when it comes to sustainable development and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Russia is consistently implementing the climate agenda both domestically and internationally,” Dmitry Chernyshenko added. “We place special emphasis on the tourism potential of Russia and China. I am confident that tourism will lend a new impetus to all aspects of economic cooperation between our countries. We are now launching visa-free group trips to expedite this.”
With its theme of Building a Shared Future for Northeast Asia through Cooperation, this year’s China Northeast Asia Expo will include over 30 conferences, exhibitions and forums, online and offline, hosted on an area of 70,000 square metres.
New pavilions have been added to the eight exhibition spaces to display the latest achievements in promising industries such as gas and petrochemicals, transport and infrastructure, the green economy and high technologies, new energy and innovative agriculture.
