SUIFENHE (China), September 28. /ITAR-TASS/. Investments by the southeastern Chinese city of Suifenhe in the Russian economy will rise by 8% in 2014 to $200 million, the Suifenhe deputy mayor said on Sunday.
“This year, we can state the successful development of some investment projects. Among them, we can highlight $3 million investment in the construction of a flour mill in Ussuriisk [the Russian Far East], and also projects in the timber industry, agriculture and coal production,” the Suifenhe deputy mayor said.
“Therefore, the volume of our investment in Russia will rise by 8% to $200 million,” he said.
The Russian side is also investing in Suifenhe’s economy, head of the department for attracting investment to the Suifenhe economic cooperation border area Wei Lintao said.
“At present, the construction of a Russian-Chinese furniture factory is under way. Investment totals 600 million yuans [$97.93 million]. The factory is expected to be launched in October this year,” the Suifenhe investment official said.
Another Russian company plans to accommodate a logistics base on an area of 25,000 sq m in Suifenhe to promptly deliver Chinese goods to Russia, the Chinese official said.
“This investment will total 115 million yuans [$18.77 million] and the launch of the company is scheduled for 2015,” he said.
Also, the Suifenhe authorities are currently examining a request filed by a Russian-Chinese company for acquiring production premises, Wei Lintao said.
Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Suifenhe automobile checkpoint on the border with Russia said on Sunday that the checkpoint’s capacity would be increased tenfold by 2015 to 5.5 million tons of cargoes and 6 million people annually to boost bilateral trade.
The reconstruction of the Suifenhe border crossing started in 2011. The checkpoint’s modernization envisages expanding its automobile lanes from the current four to 24 to reduce the time of the passage of trucks and passenger buses across the border, the automobile checkpoint official said.
“We hope that the checkpoint’s reconstruction will turn Suifenhe into the main point of the transit of Chinese goods to Russia and the number of Russian tourists to China will increase significantly,” the Suifenhe checkpoint deputy head said.