Against the backdrop of a sharp decline in global trade hit by the epidemic, Bilateral trade between China and Russia has continued to grow, with China's imports from Russia growing at the fastest rate among China's major trading partners. This demonstrates the high level of strategic coordination between China and Russia as well as the great resilience and potential of bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
According to the latest statistics from the General Administration of Customs, the trade volume between China and Russia between January and April this year was 234.46 billion yuan, up 2.9 percent from the same period last year. Among them, China imported 142.5 billion yuan from Russia, up 10.1 percent year on year.
"Trade between Russia and China is still growing this year compared with last year. "Russia-china economic and trade cooperation has shown resilience and potential." Russian Ambassador to China Denisov said that The economic and trade cooperation between Russia and China is resuming and the two sides will remain committed to the goal of realizing annual trade volume of 200 billion US dollars in the future.
"The epidemic has not disrupted the pace of improving the quality and upgrading of Trade between Russia and China."
As summer approaches, delicious Russian ice cream is increasingly popular among Chinese consumers. Four more Russian companies have been granted export licenses to China. "So far this year, Russia's ice cream exports to China accounted for 14.9 percent of its total exports, up more than 9 percent year on year." "Said Utkina, chief technologist at the Russian Ice cream Manufacturers Association.
The general manager of RUSFAIR, A Russian company, Nikolai Kegrodov, told The Financial Times that the Demand for Russian chocolate, sweets, chicken and other foods is expanding in China. "We are now trading primarily with our partners online."
Russia's agricultural and food products are increasingly popular with Chinese consumers, according to Alexander Inyushin, Russia's business representative in China. "There has been a change in Russia's export structure," he stressed. "Agricultural products and food have become the second most important part of our exports to China." Mr Inushin believes new logistics routes and customs clearance between the two countries have contributed to such success. For example, a shipment of frozen Russian chicken arrived in Chongqing by rail at the end of May, cutting the shipping time from one and a half to two months to two weeks, he said. Quarantine and customs clearance are not carried out at the border, but in Chongqing. "Institutional innovation will further boost Russian food exports to China."
To further improve the level and efficiency of Logistics between China and Russia, Liaoning Port Group is cooperating with Russian Railway Corporation to build the Bererast International Logistics Center outside Moscow. Last week, the logistics center sent out the first international train to Jinan. Ma Yunchi, general manager of the logistics center, said that when the third phase of the logistics center is completed in 2024, it will be able to meet the requirements of one-third of the container transit transport in Moscow.
Apart from agricultural and food products, there are many bright spots in Russia's exports to China. Moscow investment and industrial policy Department director Prokhorov introduced that Moscow's main export products are mechanical equipment and technical equipment, communications equipment, textiles, optical equipment and so on. This year, Moscow's non-raw materials and non-energy exports to China continued to grow, with delivery of US $500 million in products from January to April, up 15 percent year on year.
"The epidemic has not disrupted the pace of improvement in the quality and upgrading of Trade between Russia and China. "Most of Russia's imports from China are no longer just commodities. More than half are finished goods and machine-based products." Denisov said the steady growth in Russian energy exports this year had largely driven trade between the two countries. Russia became China's largest supplier of crude oil in April, with imports from Russia up 18% from a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data. Experts pointed out that the expansion of Energy cooperation between China and Russia reflects the deepening of bilateral economic and trade ties, as well as the fact that China's economic recovery will help Russia tide over the difficult period.
"Local Cooperation becomes an important driving force for the development of bilateral trade"
In recent years, the enthusiasm and level of china-Russia sub-national cooperation have continued to rise and achieved remarkable results. Russia's Amur region said recently that the blagoveshchensk-Heihe highway bridge will be fully opened after the lifting of transit restrictions during the epidemic, which will greatly promote the economic and trade exchanges between Russia's Far East and Northeast China. Amur state is building a bonded logistics center near The Jiehe Bridge, and a temporary warehouse will be completed by the end of August.
Borovskaya, director of CaseLAB Laboratory, Institute of Innovative Design and Technology Entrepreneurship, St. Petersburg State University of Electronic Technology, believes that the construction of infrastructure projects will help further activate Russia-China trade. "A large number of infrastructure projects between Russia and China are progressing smoothly, including cross-border Bridges and expressways, the construction of a free trade zone in Heilongjiang Province, and the construction of an advanced development zone in the Russian Far East. Local cooperation has become an important driving force for the development of bilateral trade."
Recently, by the ccpit of heilongjiang province to build "section of Harbin international economic and trade fair (HaQiaHui) shows a" cloud activities online, 18 Russian federal subject of 61 companies online display of food, consumer goods, chemical products, electrical equipment, industrial equipment, financial products and technological innovation products, hope to take this opportunity to attract Chinese investors.
The two sides have established two regional cooperation mechanisms, the Northeast to the Far East and the Yangtze River to the Volga River. The Local Cooperation Councils of the China-Russia Friendship, Peace and Development Committee have been set up, and 140 pairs of sister provinces, states and cities have been established. Closer cooperation at the sub-national level is injecting new impetus into the economic and trade development between China and Russia.
"Scientific, Technological and innovation cooperation will open up broader prospects for bilateral trade and economic cooperation"
In recent years, Russia has greatly improved its investment environment and created favorable conditions for foreign investment. Mankovic, President of The Federation of Asian Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Russia, told our reporter that there is great potential for cooperation between Russia and China in the field of direct investment. "This year and next year will be the Year of science and technology innovation between Russia and China," he said.
At present, scientific, technological and innovation cooperation is injecting vitality into the quality and efficiency of China-Russia economy and trade. Huawei recently signed a deal with Russian mobile operators to roll out 5G networks, and has invested heavily in Artificial intelligence in Russia. Tencent and Alibaba Group are gradually expanding their presence in Russia. The Russian Direct investment Fund and the China Investment Group jointly set up a $1 billion China-Russia Technology Innovation Fund.
The Sino-Russian joint venture founded by Radayeva, who studied in China, focuses on providing legal and accounting services to Chinese companies in Russia and has more than 50 Chinese clients. Radayeva told the Financial Times that more and more Chinese companies are investing in and developing businesses in Russia and selling goods to Russia and the entire Eurasian Economic Union countries. "With the gradual easing of the epidemic in Russia, the reopening of the market and the recovery of the rouble exchange rate, Chinese companies operating in Russia will enjoy greater development opportunities."
Zhang Hanhui, Chinese ambassador to Russia, said the two sides in promoting energy, aerospace, connectivity in areas such as strategic big projects at the same time, will dock by intergovernmental cooperation mechanism, in agriculture, finance, science and technology innovation, digital economy, e-commerce, medical and health care, 5 g, and other fields to cultivate new growth point of cooperation. The experience of China and Russia in jointly fighting the epidemic will become a driving force for the acceleration and upgrading of China-Russia relations after the epidemic.