MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. Russia’s energy imports to China from March to July 2022 exceeded the cumulative volume from all of 2021, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in a special article for TASS.
"China has been Russia’s largest trade partner for 12 consecutive years. In the first eight months of this year, trade between China and Russia totalled $117.206 bln, up 31.4% from last year. In only five months, from March to July of this year, the volume of energy resources imported by China equaled the volume delivered from Russia during all of last year," he said.
Last year China and Russia marked 20 years since the signing of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, Zhang Hanhui said. While remaining committed to initial goals, Beijing and Moscow have worked together to ensure the gradual development of bilateral relations and provide firm support to each other on issues concerning the basic interests of the two countries, he added. "Bilateral trade has repeatedly hit historic highs, and full-scale business cooperation in various areas is developing. In 2021 bilateral trade between China and Russia reached $146.87 bln, up 35.9% in annual terms," the diplomat noted.
"Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov projected not long ago that trade turnover between China and Russia might go above $165-170 bln in 2022, which will set a new all-time record, marking another positive step towards reaching the goal of increasing bilateral trade turnover to $200 bln by 2024," he concluded.