MOSCOW, November 6. /TASS/. The Russian Export Center considers the goal of increasing the trade turnover between Russia and China to $200 bln by 2024 feasible, the Russian Export Center CEO Veronika Nikishina said on Friday.
"The task set by the leaders of our countries - to reach the level of $200 bln by 2024 - will be completed. We have excellent prospects, and this is clearly seen in the example of exports amid the pandemic in several industries at once," she said.
According to Nikishina, in particular, there are several confident leaders in the sector of the agro-industrial complex. For example, the supply of meat and offal from Russia to China in 2020 increased nine times, soybean oil - five times, sunflower oil - two times. In addition, this year Russia began supplying beef to China.
"Our products have two unconditional competitive advantages, which we will develop in the future. The first is natural ingredients. In Russia, the use of genetically modified technologies is legally limited, so Chinese consumers clearly know that they have found products that are environmentally friendly and safe," Nikishina said.
The common border with China and actively developing logistics system is another competitive advantage for Russian goods. According to Nikishina, further construction of infrastructure in the Russian Far East will increase trade between China and Russia.
Russian Ambassador China Andrey Denisov told TASS earlier that by the end of the year Russia and China can maintain the volume of bilateral trade at the level of last year in $110 bln while maintaining the current pace of its development.
According to the ambassador, the pandemic has not greatly affected the Russian-Chinese trade. "In the first nine months, according to Chinese statistics, we are practically at the level of last year. The reduction in trade turnover is about 2%. This is within the statistical margin of error, and in absolute figures, for nine months we have reached the level of almost $80 bln, which says that if we at least maintain these rates, then by the end of the year we will receive the same - roughly $110 bln of trade that we had in the crisis-free 2019," the diplomat said.
Everything that is happening in the global economy, Denisov stated, is in one way or another related to the pandemic. The decline in oil prices, and then prices for other energy resources was largely due to the sluggishness of the world market, as well as a decrease in demand for these goods, he said.