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China-Russia Trade Keeps Growth Momentum
Trade between China and Russia has picked up rapid development momentum after being stagnant for some six years.
Customs statistics show that bilateral trade reached a record high of US$8 billion in 2000, up 39.9 percent year on year. In the first four months this year, it jumped by 50 percent to US$3.1 billion.
Liu Baorong, an expert with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, attributed the progress to the rapid economic growth of both countries, especially the recovery of the Russian economy.
Russia reported a gross domestic product growth rate of eight percent in 2000, the biggest for a decade.
In the past, primary products or labor-intensive products dominated exports of both countries, such as Russia's steel, lumber, chemical fertilizer and paper pulp, and China's food, textiles, light industrial products, and daily necessities.
Now, manufactured goods, like machinery, are acquiring an expanding share in the exports of either side.
Border trade, which rose by 65 percent year on year to US$3.14 billion in 2000, has become an important component of the China-Russia trade.
However, Li Jingjie, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, held that the US$8 billion is still a small figure compared to the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.
Yury Khokhlov, Russian deputy trade representative to China, said that Russia's advanced technologies in energy, space, laser, and nuclear industries have a steady market demand in China.
Russia looks for further cooperation with China in these sectors, he said in an interview with Xinhua, noting that major progress has been made on big projects like the construction of a nuclear power plant and an oil pipeline in China.
Economists and trade experts attending a seminar on China- Russia trade held here this week pointed out that the differences in settling accounts and the imperfect arbitration system for the bilateral trade constitute a major obstacle to further development.
But they predicted that with China's entry into the World Trade Organization and the start of negotiations also on Russia's WTO admission, especially the recent founding of the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization," a more favorable environment will be created for bilateral trade.
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