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China will overcome crisis in national economy — Russian envoy

The Chinese government took urgent and rather effective measures, and they allowed to stabilize the stock market, Russia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to China points out

BEIJING, August 27. /TASS/. The measures that the Chinese government took to overcome crisis in the national economy were effective and managed to stabilize the situation, Russia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to China Andrey Denisov told a joint press conference with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Gopin on Thursday.

"Talking about the Chinese economy, we, of course, are closely following the developments and wish to Chinese partners soonest recovery from this crisis situation. I express confidence at my level that it will be so. I draw attention to the fact that last year China took the first place in the world in index of purchasing power parity. Crisis affected stock markets and rate of national currency. In principal, this is a relatively insignificant part of a very large Chinese economy. The Chinese government took urgent and rather effective measures, and, as we see, they allowed to stabilize the stock market. We hope that this stabilization will continue," Denisov stressed.

The diplomat noted that crisis is characteristic not only for China at this moment, but for the global economy as a whole, including Russia.

Decrease in trade turnover between Russia and China not critical

Trade turnover between Russia and China has decreased because of crisis in the global economy, but the task of reaching $100 billion in 2015 is not out of question, Andrey Denisov went on to say.

"Talking about our bilateral relations, the crisis has, of course, affected them. In the first half of 2015, trade turnover has fallen by a third, that is by 30%, and stood at slightly more than $31 billion. First of all, similar situations happened, relatively recently, in 2009, due to same reasons — because of crisis in the global economy. I would like to note two peculiarities here. Over the last 10 years, the volume of our bilateral trade has grown by 23% per year in average. This is a rare case in world trade. Last year, it reached almost $100 billion. This is a very considerable sum for the Russian economy. Secondly, the physical volume of goods from China to Russia and from Russia to China has not changed. The decrease happened because of falling global prices, first of all for raw materials and most importantly, for oil. The physical volume stayed the same and even grew on several positions," he stressed.

The diplomat said the structure of bilateral economic cooperation is in its transition period. "Both China’s imports in general and Russian-Chinese trade are going through certain transformation, you can even say a revolution. We are transitioning from trading goods to trading projects and large-scale investment cooperation. We have several dozens - around 60, to be precise — investment projects at different stages of readiness. Discussion of different investment projects has significantly increased in the first half of this year. In general, we state considerable revival and activation of contacts between business circles of the two countries, companies, enterprises, entrepreneurs both on the bilateral basis and in the framework of different international forums. In general, we do not cancel the task put forward by our leaders to reach $100 billion in trade," the envoy concluded.

"I think that next year, we will be able to reach $100 billion in trade turnover," Chen Gopin said.

Russia appreciates China’s position on refusing to join anti-Russian sanctions

Russia is thankful to China for understanding Moscow’s position on the Ukrainian issue and firm refusal to join anti-Russian sanctions, Russia’s Ambassador stressed.

"We thank our Chinese partners for understanding our position on Ukraine. And, of course, we greatly value persistently firm position of the Chinese side on refusing to join anti-Russian sanctions," Denisov said.

The diplomat reminded that during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing, a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is planned. "As always, complicated issues on international agenda will be touched upon. We proceed from the fact the cooperation between our countries on the global arena has already become a powerful stabilizing factor of security. We value high level of bilateral coordination on international issues. I would name as an example coordination of our positions on Iran’s nuclear program, Syrian issues, nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula, fighting against the Islamic State [terrorist organization]," he stressed.

Russian president's visit to China

Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay an official visit to China on the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Putin will participate in celebrations dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Victory in the War against Japan and the end of the Second World War.

More than 20 bilateral documents are planned to be signed during Putin’s visit to China, Denisov said. "During President Putin’s visit to China, separate talks are planned with China’s President Xi Jinping, as well as talks in the format of delegations of the two countries," Denisov said. "After talks, it is planned to sign a package of documents. It is still being developed, there are more than 20 documents," he added.

"These documents include all aspects of bilateral cooperation, including in finance and investment, transport and logistics," Denisov stressed. "In general, it is obvious that the visit of our leader will give an additional impetus to our strategic cooperation in all spheres," the diplomat said.