YEKATERINBURG, July 11. /TASS/. Trade turnover between Russia and China surpassed $90 bln in the first six months of 2023, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said on Tuesday.
"Bilateral trade surpassed $90 bln in the first half of this year, up by 20% year-on-year. This laid good ground for achieving the goal set by heads of the two countries to reach annual trade of $200 bln," he said at a session of the Innoprom-2023 international industrial trade fair in Yekaterinburg.
The diplomat also noted the role of energy cooperation between China and Russia. "Russia is the main source of imports of coal, crude oil and gas to China. A good trend of growing energy exports to China has been observed since the beginning of this year. Moreover, the successful implementation of such projects as Yamal LNG is underway," he said.
"Good prospects for cooperation in agriculture are opening," the ambassador noted, adding that "the range of trade in agriculture and sideline products is constantly expanding." "In the first five months Russian imports of agriculture products to China in value terms soared by 84%," he said.
Trade turnover between the two countries hit $94 bln from January to May, Russia’s trade envoy to China Alexey Dakhnovsky noted at the session, adding that Moscow and Beijing have all possibilities to breach the $200 bln mark "ahead of schedule, before the end of the year."
The Innoprom trade fair has been held annually in Yekaterinburg since 2010. This year’s event runs from July 10 to 13. Its main theme is "Sustainable Production: Strategies for Renewal." The 7th Russia-China Expo, focused on relevant areas of cooperation between the two countries, is also being held at the trade fair platform. Belarus is the partner country.