China, Russia embrace new opportunities for economic cooperation

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- For online shoppers in Russia, thego-to website is neither Amazon nor a local e-commerce portal, butAliExpress, an e-commerce site run by China's Alibaba Group.

Over 22 million visitors logged onto the site in January 2017,making it the most popular e-commerce site in Russia, leaving localcounterparts such as Ozon.ru and Eldorado.ru far behind, accordingto data from Russia's Association of Internet Trade Companies.

Boosted by faster cargo trains and more developed logisticssystems, Chinese e-commerce companies have seen their salesskyrocketing in Russia in the past few years, contributing to anuptick in trade between the two countries.

China has been Russia's largest trading partner for six yearsand Russia is a major source for China to import energy andhigh-tech products.

In 2015, the global economic downturn and low energy pricesdragged down trading volume between the two countries. The numberquickly bounced back in 2016 with the help of e-commerce despite anoverall slump in China's foreign trade.

According to China's General Administration of Customs,China-Russia trade grew 33.7 percent in the first five months thisyear to 223.1 billion yuan (about 32.8 billion U.S. dollars).

New opportunities for economic cooperation emerged not only frome-commerce. As the two countries both strive to achieve higherquality growth, their economic ties are also strengthening throughdeeper, broader, and more innovative cooperation.

"The focus of China-Russia economic and trade cooperation isshifting from sheer scale or speed to quality and profits," saidChinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui.

Some high-tech projects are already underway. The CommercialAircraft Corporation of China and United Aircraft Corporation ofRussia have created a plan to develop a wide-body jet that will beable to make long-haul flights, potentially taking on dominantplayers such as Airbus and Boeing.

New growth points are also emerging in industries includingagriculture as well as gas and oil equipment, according to Li.

"I believe the quality and quantity of economic and tradecooperation between the two countries will continue to rise," saidLi.

Regional economic cooperation frameworks also provided the twocountries with more opportunities to join hands.

The two countries have agreed to pair the China-proposed Beltand Road Initiative with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union(EAEU).

The pairing of the Eurasian strategy with the Belt and RoadInitiative will create new opportunities for transforming theEurasian space into a convenient environment that facilitateexchanges of goods and simplify procedures for importers andexporters, Maxim Oreshkin, Russian Economic Development Minister,told Xinhua.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping embarks on his state visit toRussia Monday, new cooperation mechanisms as well as moreagreements are expected.

During the two-day visit, Xi and Russian President VladimirPutin will hold talks and meet with the press. The two leaders willmap out the direction and goals for the development of bilateralties, further deepen political mutual trust, and promotecooperation, according to Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs LiHuilai.

It will be Xi's sixth tour to Russia since taking office, andwill mark the third time the two heads of state have met this year,Li said.

The two sides will ink a series of cooperative documents onareas such as trade, economy, investment, connectivity, media, andeducation.

"I'm convinced that Xi's forthcoming visit to Russia will givean additional impetus to cooperation in various fields and willallow us to come closer to the goal of bringing mutual trade to 200billion dollars by 2020," said Oreshkin. Enditem