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Rapidly Growing Sino-Russian Trade
The two-way trade between China and Russia witnessed a significant growth in the first six months of this year as the two countries maintained a healthy and stable development of their bilateral friendly relations.
Figures released by the General Administration of Customs show that trade between the two giant neighbors hit 3.56 billion U.S. dollars in the six months, up 31.5 percent from the same period last year.
China's imports from Russia, mainly fertilizer, rolled steel, refined oil, aluminum and timber, reached 2.68 billion U.S. dollars, up 22.4 percent from the same period last year.
China's exports to Russia, including garments, footwear, foodstuff, electronic products and machinery, grew 70.3 percent to 880 million U.S. dollars.
Leaders of China and Russia have kept close contacts. Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Russia President Vladimir Putin exchanged views regularly over the phone. Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan visited Russia in the beginning of this year and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov visited China following Tang's visit.
Russian President Putin is due to arrive here later Monday on an official visit to China, his first China trip since he became president.
In addition, Chinese trade minister Shi Guangsheng led a delegation of trade and economic cooperation to Moscow in May for a specialized meeting with Russian trade officials. The two sides agreed that priority cooperation areas should include trade and development of hi-tech and new technology products and comprehensive development and utilization of energy and resources.
China and Russia are important trade partners to each other, with annual trade volume reaching more than five billion U.S. dollars.
The two countries have launched a number of large cooperative projects.
Currently, the number of Chinese firms in Russia topped 1,300, involving an overall investment of 140 million U.S. dollars. They are mainly doing business in the sectors of foreign trade, micro- electronics, telecommunications, garment-making, household electric appliances assembly, catering service, processing of timber and agriculture.
The number of Russian-invested companies in China adds up to about 1,100, with a total arrived investment of 220 million U.S. dollars. Their business scope covers nuclear power station, automobiles, farm machine assembly and maintenance, chemical industry and construction materials.
With the joint efforts of leaders of China and Russia, said an analyst who refused to be identified, the strategic partnership of cooperation between China and Russia will be further strengthened.
As a result, trade and economic cooperation between the two countries will also grow steadily, he said.
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