MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. China supports Russia’s efforts to put its forestry sector in proper order, Premier of China’s State Council Li Keqiang said in an interview with TASS ahead of his official visit to Moscow on September 16.
"We strongly support the Russian side in its efforts to introduce order in the forestry sector, to stop illegal wood cutting and punish those responsible for that. We are ready to share China’s experience and practices in this area with Russian partners," he stressed.
He noted that his country and Russia had been developing investment cooperation in the forestry sector. "It has become one of the most promising area of trade and economic cooperation and had yielded enormous benefits to the two countries’ companies and peoples," he said.
"Chinese companies have invested more than three billion US dollars to Russia’s forestry sector, which helped to create a lot of new jobs for the local population," the premier stressed. "We will continue to encourage efficient, highly-qualified and reliable Chinese companies to invest in Russia’s forestry sector, in particular into the timber processing industries in strict compliance with Russia laws. We will support cooperation between the two countries’ companies in the areas of forest growing and management."
He expressed the hope that "the Russian side will create an open, stable and predictable environment for investment cooperation between the countries’ companies and will protect their lawful rights and interests."
Along with the timber industry, in his words, the two countries have a vast potential for cooperation in the area of environment protection. "We are ready jointly with the Russian partners to use mutually complementing advantages, to strengthen industrial and technical cooperation in the sphere of ecology with due account of the national specifics and actual demands of the two countries," Li Keqiang underscored.