MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. Russia will soon become a target foreign market for Chinese businesses, Liu Xuesong, an adviser at the Eurasia Department of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper published on Friday.
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"China and Russia have a common border, and our relationship, as I have said, is characterized by complementarity. Against the background of active development of Chinese-Russian relations, it is Russia that will become the target overseas market for Chinese businesses in the near future," he is quoted by the publication.
According to the adviser, Beijing has been Moscow’s first trade partner for the sixth year running. "For example, in 2015 the Internet business turnover volume between China and Russia reached $2.7 billion, accounting for more than half of the total e-business turnover in your country. So, Russia has become the leading country importing Chinese goods through the Internet," Liu Xuesong said.
The Chinese ministry official also said that the main spheres of China’s investment in Russia in 2016 were the energy, natural resource, forestry, construction materials production sectors and trade. "In 2015, the amount of contracts signed between the two countries reached $20 billion," he said.
Liu Xuesong said that in 2015, trade turnover between China and Russia totaled $68 billion. In the first half of 2016, the bilateral trade volume increased by 1.8%, compared to the same period last year and amounted to $31.72 billion. "With the improvement of the market conditions and the innovation climate in Russia, especially regarding the pace of the implementation of Russia’s strategy to promote the Far East development, more and more Chinese enterprises are coming to Russia with investments," the adviser said.