Yevgeny Popov, head of the ministry's foreign affairs department, said the meeting would focus on how to accomplish a goal set by the countries' leaders "to increase bilateral trade to $60-$80 billion [by 2010] and Chinese investment in Russia to $12 billion."
The business forum, to be attended by leaders Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin, who will conclude his two-day visit to the People's Republic Wednesday, is expected to outline methods and mechanisms for increasing bilateral trade and investment.
The official said Russian-Chinese trade in 2005 had grown by 37.1% year-on-year to $29.1 billion. Chinese exports to Russia rose 31% to $15.89 billion, while Russian exports to China jumped 45.2% to $13.21 billion in the same period.
The Russian delegation, which was to include 500 businessmen as well as representatives from the ministries, the energy and industrial sectors, and financial institutions, will actually be much larger than expected as many Russian companies intend to submit their proposals at the meeting, he said.
