BEIJING, April 29. /TASS/. Russian wine makers and pharmaceutical companies are determined to intensively develop the Chinese market by constantly increasing the supplies of their products to that country, Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Alexey Gruzdev told TASS.
Gruzdev is the Commissioner General of Russian participation in the International Horticultural Exhibition EXPO-2019.
"[Supplies of] Crimean and Krasnodar wines to China are very promising, because, according to experts from International Wine and Spirit Research, by 2020 China will become the second largest market for wine after the United States. <...> Russia is not ashamed of its wine on the world market, our quality fully complies, or even surpasses world standards," he stressed.
"Moreover, one of the most promising areas of our cooperation is medicinal plant growing. <...> China, being the main supplier and consumer of traditional Chinese medicine in the world is an important partner for Russia," he added.
According to the deputy minister, the Russian government is actively supporting the companies in their attempts to enter foreign markets. In particular, as he noted, the state support of the national wine industry over the past three years has grown more than five times and reached 3.8 bln rubles ($58.9 mln).
Gruzdev also stressed the Chinese market is quite promising for the pharmaceutical industry.
"The volume of the market for consumption of traditional herbal medicines is constantly growing, only in China it is already more than $100 bln and doubles every five to six years," he noted.
The deputy minister said that the Russian exporters in this sector have good chances, especially considering the "centuries-old traditions in the development of medicinal plant growing and the use of natural sources of health: herbs, berries, fruits and honey."
EXPO-2019
The International Horticultural Exhibition EXPO 2019 with the participation of 86 countries and 24 international organizations is held in Beijing from April 29 to October 7.
According to the organizing committee, the exposition area covers 960 hectares. The main theme of the exhibition - Live Green, Live better - expresses the desire of the mankind for a greater harmony with nature.
The theme of Russia’s site at the expo is "Russian garden: from roots to fruits."
The territory, which houses three art objects, symbolizing the harmony of nature and man in modern parks, exceeds 1,800 square meters. It recreated landscapes illustrating the biological diversity of the middle zone and the Far East, the Crimea and the Caucasus of Russia. Representatives of many countries of the world, including North Korea, showed interest in the Russian exposition. TASS acts as the general information partner of the exhibition.