Chinese Premier Calls for Improvement in China-Russia Trade BalanceVisiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji stressed Monday in Moscow that it was a primary task for both the Russian and Chinese governments to improve trade balance in a bid to further boost bilateral economic cooperation.Speaking at a luncheon with Russia's top business leaders, Zhu likened the situation of the fruitful trade and economic cooperation between the two countries to a harvest season. But he also noted that the increasing trade imbalance between the two countries had become a major problem, which needed to be solved by efforts of both sides. Premier Zhu said that he and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kasyanov discussed measures to solve this problem in their sixth regular meeting Friday in St. Petersburg. Zhu said the best solution is to establish direct links between the large and medium-sized enterprises between the two countries and let the quality products of China's large and medium-sized enterprises enter the Russian market. The Chinese premier invited Russia to send a delegation of more than 100 entrepreneurs to visit China, where they would be presented with all kinds of quality Chinese products, so they will have an opportunity to select whatever they want from among the best Chinese brands. Zhu also called for setting up a trade center for Chinese commodities in Moscow, and urged the Russian government to support that. He said Chinese enterprises can showcase their quality products in the center and conduct retail and wholesale businesses there. Through the center, Russian firms and consumers would get acquainted with high quality Chinese products, the premier added. The Chinese premier expressed the hope that both governments should offer preferential policies to direct links and cooperation between large and medium-sized enterprises from the two sides. Zhu also welcomed Russian banks and bankers to engage in cooperation, saying that the two sides have much to learn from each other. |
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