Official upbeat over China-Russia trade growth

Chen Yuan, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, delivers a speech on Thursday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. [Photo by Xu Jingxing/China Daily]

China is confident that bilateral trade with Russia will reach $200 billion by 2020, Chen Yuan, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said on Thursday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that will last until Saturday.

"China and Russia should not only continue to strengthen cooperation in the energy industry, but also encourage companies from both countries to work together to jointly develop high-end products for the manufacturing, consumption and infrastructure sectors," Chen said.

Chen Yuan, (left),chats with Alexander Shokhin, president of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. [Photo by Xu Jingxing/China Daily]

"Such partnership will create huge opportunities for trade and financial cooperation. I am confident that our bilateral trade volume will reach $200 billion by 2020," Chen said.

The trade target was first raised by the leaders of both countries in 2014.

China has been Russia's largest trade partner for last six consecutive years since 2010. But Sino-Russian bilateral trade volume fell 27.8 percent last year to 422.73 billion yuan ($64.16 billion) due to the ongoing global economic downturn and falling oil prices.