On April 16, at the National Oil and Gas Forum, held at the Expocenter, a discussion “Russia-China: Energy for the Future” was held, moderated by Kirill Babaev, President of the National Coordination Center for International Business Cooperation.
The meeting was attended by Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Padalko, who presented the main problems and opportunities for economic cooperation with China. According to him, with no other country in the world does Russia have so many areas of cooperation formalized by government regulation. And at the same time, there are current problematic issues related to restrictions in the field of mutual settlements. In this regard, he noted the importance of the accelerated opening of automobile border crossings and the development of so-called dry hubs.

Vladimir Padalko also noted that an insufficient number of Chinese manufacturers are entering the Russian market and entrepreneurial activity should be stimulated based on the principle of competitive advantage. As an example, he cited opportunities for Chinese woodworkers to create furniture factories in Russia that could produce products from Russian forests. Vladimir Padalko called the main problem the internal regulation of the Russian market, which does not allow Chinese companies to make a decent profit.

Participants discussed key issues such as areas of energy cooperation that the governments and companies of the two countries should focus on; challenges facing the energy sector of Russia and China in the context of the upcoming energy transition; new technologies and production that Russian and Chinese investors could create together.

Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Sergei Mochalnikov, who spoke at the meeting, presented the main areas of energy cooperation between Russia and China, such as oil and gas, the coal industry and cooperation in the field of alternative energy sources. According to him, governments create conditions, and companies must develop business. “The degree of interpenetration of our economies is only increasing,” said a ministry representative. Sergei Mochalnikov also noted that technological sovereignty remains the main way to ensure the energy security of each country.

The head of the Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Russia, Zhou Liqun, noted that special attention should be paid to price coordination and stability at border crossings. “Chinese enterprises and Chinese utilities are waiting for energy resources from Russia,” he said, calling for more active cross-border cooperation and infrastructure development, to overcome the existing difficulties with crossing the border, which remains the longest.

The representative of Chinese automakers in Russia, Li Feng, spoke about how Chinese automobile brands are working to transition to environmentally friendly transport. And as global demand for cars grows, this stimulates the development of alternative energy sources.
Evgenia Dyshlyuk, Head of the Strategic Analysis Department at Gazpromneft PJSC, noted that after the pandemic, the concept of energy transition has changed significantly and the world is abandoning previous approaches. In her opinion, the main focus should be on meeting the energy needs of developing countries, where 80 percent of the world's population lives.
Representatives of the Sichuan Association in Russia and the CIS countries also took part in the discussion.

Summing up the discussion, Kirill Babaev expressed the opinion that the main problem of Russian-Chinese cooperation was the problem of accelerated growth (25 percent per year), and expressed confidence that under these conditions all difficulties would be overcome.

By Peter Cheremushkin,

Press Service of the Chamber