China-Russia expo to promote bilateral trade

Event scheduled to be held during meeting of prime ministers, Tian Xuefei and Song Mengxing report.

The Second China-Russia Expo, which is scheduled for late this year in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, will help worldwide traders find partners and get useful information, the event's organizing committee said in March.

The committee agreed the event will be held during the 20th China-Russia Prime Ministers' Regular Meeting, which will make the event "more influential", according to E Zhongqi, secretary-general of the Chinese side of the committee.

Chinese and Russian members on the organizing committee said they will decide on the exposition's theme and major events based on what bilateral economic cooperation needs.

Statistics show trade volume between the two countries hit $95.2 billion in 2014, almost reaching the $100 billion goal set by Chinese and Russian leaders in 2011 for this year, bilateral trade in January and February decreased 30.7 percent from the same period a year earlier.

E said the committee is considering promoting the investment potential of regions in both countries as well as development of the Russian Far East at this year's exposition to boost cooperation between companies from both countries.

Alexey Gruzdev, Russian trade representative in China, said he found Chinese and Russian entrepreneurs lacked reliable trade information and the China-Russia expo could help solve this problem.

"We will hold more events this year to help businessmen from the two countries better know each other's trade and investment projects," he said.

The exposition will also attract traders from other countries and regions and promote multilateral cooperation in many industries, according to the committee.

The first China-Russia Expo, formerly called the China Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair, ran from June 30 to July 4, 2014.

More than 10,000 foreign businessmen from 67 countries and regions attended the exposition in Harbin city, the capital of Heilongjiang.

A China-Russia project cooperation conference at the event attracted 356 Russian companies including the aluminum giant Rusal and United Aircraft Corp, as well as 590 Chinese businesses.

Local media reported that companies at the conference agreed to cooperate on 120 projects.

China and Russia also jointly held 13 conferences, including the China-Russia Satellite Navigation System Cooperation Roundtable and the China-Russia Finance Forum, for some 200 delegations from the two countries' government agencies to set up partnerships at the exposition.

More than 150 experts discussed how China and Russia could better cooperate in the aerospace, ship and smart equipment industries at the 2014 China-Russia High-level Engineering and Technology Cooperation Meeting.

Wang Xihe, a building material businessman from East China's Zhejiang province, believed the China-Russia exposition provided him with golden opportunities and reliable information.

He told local media that he was wild with joy after hearing delegates from 23 Russian regions talk about their projects.

"I can invest in 15 of them and I'll have further discussions with the delegates to decide which projects I'll invest in," he said.

Wang said he must find a partner in Heilongjiang first as businessmen in the province have rich cooperation experiences with Russia.

The five-day event also created cooperation opportunities for enterprises from other countries and regions.

Four companies from the European Union, including HSBC Holdings PLC, attended the China-EU investment and trade fair at the exposition.

They talked with about 200 companies in Heilongjiang with a focus on agricultural planting, husbandry, food processing and logistics to seek cooperation.

At the roundtable for China and Latin America, traders from Columbia promoted projects involving electric power, mining and oil while Chile businessmen said they wanted to export their agricultural products to China.

Heilongjiang signed import and export contracts worth $3.15 billion as well as agreements for 260 economic and technological cooperation projects at the exposition.

The province, which had a population of 38.34 million by 2012, borders Russia to the north and east for a stretch of 2,891 kilometers.

Imports and exports between Heilongjiang and Russia in 2014 accounted for 24.4 percent of total Sino-Russian trade.

Contact the writer at tianxuefei@chinadaily.com.cn and songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/22/2015 page5)