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Envoy says Sino-Russian economic cooperation needs boost to develop

According to the diplomat, the bilateral trade reached a record level of $109 bln in 2018, and in 8 months of 2019 the figure increased by 4.4%

SHANGHAI, September 26. /TASS/. Economic cooperation between Russia and China needs additional stimulus to enter a new level, Russia’s Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov said at the IV Russian-Chinese Forum "Investment in Innovation".

In 2018, the ambassador noted, the bilateral trade reached a record level of $109 bln, and in 8 months of 2019 the figure increased by 4.4%. "Cooperation in the energy sector has become strategic, large-scale projects are being implemented in the aircraft building, space, and military-technical sectors, and cooperation in agriculture and the transport sector is rapidly expanding. Investment and finance also have good prospects," according to the ambassador’s welcoming address read at the opening of the forum by Acting Consul General of the Russian Federation in Shanghai Ernst Yurkin.

"At the same time, it is obvious that the potential of bilateral economic cooperation is far from being fully realized, cooperation must be brought to a whole new level. This requires additional stimulus, new growth points. We have high hopes for the innovative sphere - its successful development is inherently connected to investments," the ambassador wrote.

According to the ambassador, the Intergovernmental Russian-Chinese Commission on Investment Cooperation has already approved a package of 70 projects in a wide variety of industries totaling over $120 bln.

Earlier, Director General of the Russian Venture Company (RVC) Alexander Povalko told TASS at the Forum that Russian-Chinese investment cooperation in high-tech area has significantly accelerated. "I would not call it a boom, but cooperation has accelerated significantly, interest has grown noticeably," he said, noting that Russia is certainly interested in Chinese capital and a potential market for companies. At the same time, China has recently stepped up its efforts in the development of investment cooperation in the technological sphere against the background of problems in trade and economic cooperation with the United States, the expert added. "This kind of cooperation will grow, at least in the coming year," he added.

In the RVC portfolio, the Chinese partners are traditionally interested in technology companies associated with Russia’s strength. According to him, there are also difficulties in creating tools for a venture fund  in cooperation with China.

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