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 | Sunday, April 30, 2000, updated at 10:02(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Sino-Russian Trade Expected to ImproveBilateral trade between China and Russia is expected to improve markedly this year after fluctuating around a low level during recent years, trade experts said last week."The two-way trade volume between China and Russia will have no problem reaching US$6 billion this year; it is even likely to hit US$6.5 billion," Qin Xuanren, a professor with the University of International Business and Economics, told Business Weekly last week. Statistics from the General Administration of Customs reveal that Sino-Russian trade volume has never bounced back to US$6 billion since it tumbled from US$6.12 billion in 1997 to US$5.48 billion in 1998. Last year the volume inched up by 4 per cent to US$5.7 billion. Qin said the two countries' petroleum and natural gas projects, in the feasibility study phase at this time, will give a shot in the arm to bilateral trade ties. During Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's official visit to Russia in February last year, China and Russia signed 11 agreements on co-operation in economy and trade, science and technology, transportation and other fields. Four other accords on oil, natural gas and electricity were inked at the end of the fourth regular meeting between the premiers of the two countries. Sources with the Ministry of Foreign trade and Economic Co-operation said that these agreements are being implemented, with more projects expected to be launched during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China later this year. "Only via big projects can Sino-Russian bilateral trade volume be significantly promoted," said Lu Nanquan, a senior research fellow from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Besides large-sized energy projects, the recovering border trade between the two countries is also expected to inject new vitality into bilateral trade, said Qin. Statistics indicate that Sino-Russian border trade volume has begun to rebound recently, but Qin cautioned that the government still needs to adopt strict management on border traders to prevent them from getting out of control again. "There exists great potential in further developing bilateral trade," he said. Both the two governments realize that the current performance of Sino-Russian bilateral trade is out of proportion to the economic power and political ties between the two countries, but much remains to be done before bilateral trade and economic co-operation can grow to a satisfactory level, trade analysts said. "The two governments need to adopt strategic perspectives when considering bilateral trade issues," said Lu. Both Lu and Qin underscored the co-operation between China's Northeast region with the Far East area of Russia. "The two sides are highly complementary with Northeast China possessing abundant labour and mature industries and Far East Russia possessing rich natural resources," said Qin. He said a win-win situation exists in co-operation for both sides, instead of "a trade invasion by China," as some Russian media reports assert.
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