MOSCOW, August 19 (RIA Novosti, Sergei Zelentsov) - Trade between Russia and China could triple this year, Chinese Ambassador Liu Guchang said Friday.
"Trade between our countries has been growing steadily of late. It came to $21.2 billion last year and has reached $15 billion in the first seven months of this year. We anticipate a 30% growth in turnover year-on-year," Guchang said.
He said commerce was an important part of strategic Chinese-Russian partnership and that there were positive patterns developing in the trade structure, with high-tech products, including machinery and hardware, beginning to dominate basic commodities and textiles.
China's government has decided to support domestic companies importing Russian electricity and equipment for hydroelectric stations and nuclear power plants, Guchang said.
He singled out investment as another important area of China's cooperation with Russia.
"The first [Chinese-Russian] investment forum took place last year, with agreements signed for twelve joint projects, worth a total of $700 million. The second such forum, held in St. Petersburg this year, culminated in the singing of accords for seven other joint projects, worth $1.5 billion. This indicates that our cooperation is yielding tangible results," Guchang said.
