Sergey Katyrin, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, opened and chaired the second part of the plenary session of the Russian-Chinese Business Forum, which took place on May 23 in Shanghai. From the Chinese side, the meeting was chaired by Zhang Yujing, Chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machine-Building Products.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin spoke at the first part of the plenary session of the forum in Shanghai. The head of government expressed hope that the Forum would facilitate the launch of new joint projects between Russia and China. “If we act together, we will be able to achieve new successes in this area,” M. Mishustin said. The Prime Minister noted the stability of the Russian economy in relation to sanctions pressure. The Prime Minister of Russia called the most promising sectors of Russian-Chinese cooperation such as mechanical engineering, aircraft building, shipbuilding, and bilateral trade in agricultural products. “Russian farmers are ready to increase supplies to the Chinese market,” Mikhail Mishustin emphasized.

Of particular importance is cooperation in the field of transport, the Russian Prime Minister noted. It is important to continue synchronous work on the organization of checkpoints at the border, the head of the Russian government said. Cooperation in the field of high technologies is at a high level, he said, noting the great importance of digital technologies in the field of education. Mishustin urged the Chinese side to actively attract students to study in Russia. The Prime Minister invited Chinese teams to the Games of the Future in Kazan in 2024.

Speeches by Mikhail Mishustin and Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China He Lifen set the tone for the forum and emphasized the importance of holding it, Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Padalko said from Shanghai. The forum is organized by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation together with the relevant Chinese ministries and departments. It is attended by a delegation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry headed by Sergei Katyrin.

Opening the second part of the plenary session, the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation called the meeting of Russian and Chinese business “unprecedented” in terms of its scale and the scale of the delegations that participate in it, as well as in terms of the level of delegations. “This indicates the mutual interests of business structures in the development of Russian-Chinese relations,” S. Katyrin emphasized, noting that the Forum will present the views of government and business structures, representatives of the regions.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko spoke at the meeting and called it the largest post-pandemic meeting in Russian-Chinese cooperation and a unique platform for developing existing contacts. Zhang Yujing, Chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Machinery Products, represented the Chinese participants in the plenary session.

From the Russian side, Igor Shuvalov, Chairman of the Vnesheconombank State Development Corporation, spoke, urging Russia and China to create a banking structure to strengthen their sovereignty and create an independent financial infrastructure that serves not only the ruble-yuan, but also the currencies of the SCO and BRICS countries.

Andrey Kostin, Chairman of the Board of Vneshtorgbank, addressed the forum participants and presented his views on the possibilities of strengthening and developing Russian-Chinese cooperation in the financial and banking sector. According to him, in the conditions of the dominance and monopolization of the dollar and the euro in world trade, a monopoly of the collective West has been created, which uses its currencies as a means of pressure. In this regard, A. Kostin expressed the opinion that the yuan can replace the dollar as the world settlement currency. He urged to actively attract Chinese banks to work in Russia and not be afraid of sanctions pressure.

“The sooner Chinese banks test the model that excludes the dollar in settlements with such a trade and economic partner as Russia, the more secure the financial system (of China) will be in any development of events,” A. Kostin said.

Zhou Liqun, Chairman of the Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Russia, emphasized the importance of creating and developing transport infrastructure and storage facilities. “Thus, we will be able to master the timely transportation of goods. By overcoming various barriers, we will be able to master the availability of goods,” he said.

The Russian regions were represented by the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region Gleb Nikitin, who spoke about the investment and industrial opportunities of the Volga region. He said that zones with a special economic status are being developed in the Nizhny Novgorod region; There are 3,600 Russian cultural heritage sites in the region. According to the governor, the Nizhny Novgorod region is the center of scientific and technical development of the country.

Among the problems that the governor named in Russian-Chinese cooperation are the simplification of interaction with the main customs administration of the PRC, and the improvement of customs regulation. Gleb Nikitin called on the Chinese side to lift restrictions on the movement of Russian road carriers in China and to participate more actively in transportation across Russia. He called logistics "one of the main challenges" in the way of Russian-Chinese cooperation. In this regard, the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region proposed to consider the possibility of a project to create a port infrastructure on the Volga. He also noted that the region is betting on cooperation with China in the automotive industry. According to the governor, 800 enterprises in the region are engaged in production in this industry. “The sphere of microelectronics is one of the most promising areas of cooperation between Russia and China,” G. Nikitin said.

The governor said that next year (the year of Russia's BRICS chairmanship) Nizhny Novgorod is considered as a venue for BRICS events and invited guests from China to participate.

The Chinese regions were represented by the head of the investment corporation "Ways of Communication" of Heilongjiang Province.

The Russian-Chinese business forum, held in Shanghai, is of a historical nature and, according to the speakers, became the first largest meeting of representatives of the two countries after the pandemic - it brought together 1.3 thousand participants from business and government. During the Forum, there was great interest in cooperation in the field of industry, agriculture, transport and infrastructure, digital economy, energy, tourism and other industries.

Press Service of the Chamber