MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. Creation of a joint venture of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Mail.ru Group, Alibaba and Megafon will help achieve the level of $200 bln between the two countries set by the leaders of Russia and China, Head of RDIF Kirill Dmitriev said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.

"This is a company that will also allow many Russian entrepreneurs to gain access to a billion customers in Asian markets, will help achieve the level of $200 bln in goods turnover set by our leaders. It is very important that this company will also create many jobs in Russia," he said.

During the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Russia in June 2019, the parties agreed to promote growth of bilateral trade to $200 bln by 2024. In 2018, trade between Russia and China increased by 27.1% in annual terms and exceeded $107 bln.

On October 9, RDIF, Mail.ru Group, Alibaba, and Megafon completed a deal to set up a joint venture (JV) in the social e-commerce in Russia and the CIS countries. It was noted that AliExpress Russia JV (AER JV) is majority owned by Russian shareholders with a Board of Directors comprised of representation from RDIF, Alibaba Group, MegaFon and Mail.ru Group. Boris Dobrodeev will be the Chairman of AliExpress Russia JV Board of Directors. The parties have appointed two Co-CEOs — AliExpress Russia Head Liu Wei and First Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Mail.ru Group Dmitry Sergeev.

As part of the shareholder collaboration, the AliExpress Russia JV and Mail.ru Group entered into a strategic cooperation agreement relating to, among other things, user traffic and product initiatives. The AliExpress Russia JV will be featured on Mail.ru Group’s platforms through exclusive product integration and marketing solutions.

According to RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev, the partnership already provides access to e-commerce services for more than 50% of Russian population, and Russian suppliers have the opportunity to reach 1.5 bln customers in China and globally.

In June, RDIF, Alibaba, Megafon and Mail.ru Group have signed a final agreement on creating a joint venture AliExpress Russia to integrate key Russian consumer Internet and e-commerce platforms.

The share of Megafon in AliExpress Russia will be 24.3%, RDIF — 12.9%, Mail.ru — 15%. Alibaba Group will invest $100 mln and will become part of AliExpress joint venture business in Russia, which includes the current local and cross-border activities of the international e-commerce platform AliExpress.