On November 6, 2024, a meeting of the Russian-Chinese Business Council was held at the Congress Center of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This year, it was devoted to the objectives and prospects of trade and economic cooperation.
Addressing the participants with a welcoming speech, Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Padalko noted that the meeting was devoted not only to summing up the results, but also aimed to determine what needs to be done in the short and long term to develop bilateral economic cooperation. "We have never moved towards each other at such a pace as in recent years," he emphasized, recalling that the volume of bilateral trade reached 240 billion dollars. An important stage in bilateral relations was the visit to Moscow in March 2023 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who, as Vladimir Padalko put it, restored balance in world politics in the face of Western sanctions imposed on Russia.
The welcoming speech of the Chinese Ambassador to the Russian Federation Zhang Hanhui was read by the Minister-Counselor of the Chinese Embassy Zhang Wei, who emphasized that since the beginning of this year, high-level exchanges between the two countries have been extremely cordial and the heads of state met for the third time this year during the successful BRICS summit in Kazan.
"China has remained Russia's main trading partner for 14 years in a row, and Russia has risen to eighth place among China's largest trading partners," said the Chargé d'Affaires of China in the Russian Federation. China's imports of oil and gas from Russia are steadily growing, and Russia has become the main destination for Chinese automobile exports," the welcoming speech notes. "The Blagoveshchensk-Heihe road bridge and the Nizhneleninskoye-Tongjiang railway bridge have been completed and opened for traffic. Moscow metro stations and the Moscow-Kazan highway have been put into operation one after another," the Chinese ambassador said in a message to the forum participants. The head of the Chinese diplomatic mission expressed confidence that there are always more solutions than difficulties, and the more we find ourselves in conditions of growing challenges, the more we must maintain determination and firm conviction in achieving our goals.
General Representative of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade in Russia Gao Qi read out a welcoming speech from the Chairman of the Committee Ren Hongbin. The Chairman of the Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Russia Zhou Liqun also delivered a welcoming speech to the participants. The participants heard an address from Advisor to the President of Russia Anton Kobyakov.
The meeting was moderated by the Director of the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, President of the National Coordination Center for International Business Cooperation Kirill Babaev.
Next at the forum in the section "Logistics" spoke Vice President for interaction with government authorities of FESCO Sergey Sidorov, who spoke about the state of affairs in the logistics sector between the Russian Federation and China; General Director of Terralink LLC Alexey Kudinov, who presented a platform for the development of cross-border electronic trade between Russia and China; Head of the Representative Office of Kamchatka Krai to the Government of the Russian Federation Evgeny Vlasov, who spoke about trade issues between Kamchatka Krai and China.
Participants in the section "Trade Issues between Russian and Chinese Companies" were also addressed by a representative of China Window Consulting Group Mikhail Drozdov, who spoke about legal support for bilateral trade between Russian and Chinese companies; Vice President, Director of the Department for Interaction with Government Authorities of AlfaStrakhovanie Alexey Artamonov. The section on cooperation in agriculture featured the Chairman of the Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs, who spoke about the role of his organization in strengthening business cooperation between Russia and China, the General Director of the Hauxun Group Ru Public Corporation, who presented successful experience of interaction with Russian partners on agricultural projects, and the Head of the Trade Mission of Jiangsu Province in the Russian Federation, Jia Yinke, who spoke about cooperation with Russian business in the field of engineering and agricultural projects.
At the end of the meeting, an agreement was signed between SLK LLC and SINO Technologies.

By Peter Cheremushkin,  

Press Service of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation