China, Russia hold trade cooperation meeting, vowing to deepen connectivity
China and Russia have vowed to deepen bilateral trade and investment cooperation, ministers said on Tuesday during a regular meeting on economic and trade issues between the two sides. Topics included expansion of the scale of local currency settlement and capacity of goods transfer through ports.
The 26th meeting of the China-Russia Economic and Trade Cooperation Sub-committee was held in Beijing on Tuesday, presided over by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Russian Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov, according to China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).
The two sides exchanged in-depth views on key issues of bilateral economic and trade cooperation and made corresponding preparations for the 27th meeting of the commission for regular meetings between the Chinese premier and Russian prime minister.
Wang said that China and Russia should deepen trade and investment cooperation, upgrade cross-border connectivity, strengthen communication and coordination under multilateral frameworks, and fully serve high-level exchanges and meetings between the two countries.
Reshetnikov said at the meeting that at present, Russia-China trade is developing smoothly and Russian exports to China are growing steadily. Chinese enterprises' investment in Russia also continues to expand.
It is hoped that the two sides will further enhance the capacity of port goods transfer, expand the scale of local currency settlement and promote the sustained and steady development of Russia-China economic and trade cooperation, said Reshetnikov.
Also on Tuesday, Reshetnikov met with Chinese culture and tourism minister Hu Heping.
The Russian side is willing to continue to strengthen bilateral tourism cooperation and share experience with China on the implementation of tourist facilitation measures such as electronic visas and cashless payment, said Reshetnikov.
Hu said that China is willing to make joint efforts with Russia to create a more convenient and comfortable tourism environment for tourists of the two countries.
During the Eastern Economic Forum from September 10 to 13, Chinese and Russian officials discussed priority issues and cooperation prospects in a wide range of areas, including autos, aircraft, shipbuilding and metallurgy.
"Promotion of industrial cooperation projects is in the interests of both countries and contributes to achieving technological sovereignty for Russia and China," said Denis Manturov, Russia's deputy prime minister and minister of industry and trade, according to a statement on the Russian government's website.
In recent years, China-Russia relations have maintained sound development momentum. In 2022, bilateral trade reached a record $190.27 billion, up 29.3 percent year-on-year, and China remained Russia's largest trading partner for the 13th consecutive year.
Meanwhile, China and Russia have vigorously promoted local currency settlement for trade. By December 2022, local currency settlement accounted for 50 percent of China-Russia bilateral trade, official statistics showed.
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