Chinese-Russian Trade Rising Further to Meet Target Volumes - Chinese Premier

15.03.2017 07:52

Chinese-Russian Trade Rising Further to Meet Target Volumes - Chinese Premier

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is impressed by the Russia and China bilateral trade ties.

Russia and China have done well in increasing bilateral trade ties over the past year and are certain to reach set trade target volumes, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday.

"I remember that during last year's conference I expressed hope for our trade and economic cooperation to get a bigger boost in its development, and this was achieved due to our common efforts. In particular, the first three months of this year have seen a significant rise of Russian-Chinese bilateral trade. Our economies are characterized by a high level of mutual complementarity. I am also sure that bilateral trade turnover targets which we had set will be reached," Li said during his annual press conference after the closing of the 10-day National People's Congress session.

The premier noted the adverse impact that stagnating global growth as well as the slump in energy and commodity prices has had on trade between the two countries, adding that stable Russian-Chinese relations are beneficial for the region as well as the world as a whole.

Trade between Russia and China grew 2.2 percent in 2016 and came to $69.525 billion, the latest data by China's General Administration of Customs showed. Russian-Chinese trade revived last year after a decline in 2015. The two countries have been working on improving transport and postal service links as well as looking into ways of integrating various regional economic initiatives. In June, the sides agreed to start formal talks on coupling the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and China's pan-Eurasian One Belt, One Road initiative. In the first two months of 2017, trade grew 28.8 percent in year-on-year terms, coming to $11.58 billion.

In 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russian and China planned to reach the target of $200 billion in annual trade by 2020. The Russian government later toned the ambition down but stressed that the target would not be given up.