China-Russian Far East partnership continues apace

Economic cooperation between China and the Russian Far East contains great potential, and China is willing to work with Russia to promote the cooperation between the regions and strengthen their strategic partnership, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

Shu Yuting, the ministry's newly appointed spokeswoman, said at a news conference China attaches great importance to economic cooperation with the Russian Far East. In recent years, the cooperation mechanism of both parties improved, the participants became more diversified, and the fruits of the cooperation became even more abundant.

She noted according to official statistics from Russia, in the first half of this year, trade volume between the Russian Far East and China totaled $5.8 billion, up 24 percent on a yearly basis. China invested in 58 projects in the Russian Far East. The country remained the largest trade partner and the largest source of foreign direct investment for the Russian Far East.

"The connectivity between the two parties continued to improve. The first highway bridge connecting China and Russia over the Heilong River is ready for traffic in Heihe, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, while the cross-border Tongjiang Railway Bridge was completed last month," she said.

Industrial cooperation between China and the Russian Far East also deepened. In addition to soybeans, the cooperation in oil and gas, mineral resources, low-carbon solutions and hydrogen energy injected new impetus into the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries, Shu said.

"In addition, key projects are seeing steady progress. The Amur natural gas chemical project in Russia, which China participated in, went smooth. Both parties cooperated well in contracted projects, covering the areas of urban construction, infrastructure and port logistics."

In the next step, China is willing to closely work with Russia to implement development policies and strengthen project docking, and constantly enhance the strategic partnership between China and Russia in the new era.