CHENGDU /China/, November 11. /TASS/. Trade and economic cooperation between Russia and China in agriculture has been intensively developing in recent years, Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergey Levin said at the opening ceremony of the Made in Russia exhibition in Chengdu, the administrative center of Sichuan Province in southwestern China.
"Our cooperation in agriculture has been rapidly developing in recent years, today China is the largest buyer of Russian food in the world," Levin noted. He recalled that, according to the results of last year, the volume of trade in agricultural products and food between Russia and China exceeded $10 billion.
According to him, Russian business is very interested in working on the Chinese market, many companies from Russia have already opened their representative offices in China.
"Considering the scale of the Chinese market, as well as the volume of food production in Russia, we are only at the beginning of the journey," he added, noting the importance of holding exhibitions to promote Russian products under the Made in Russia brand.
The festival-fair is being held from November 11 to 17 in the center of Chengdu. The event is sponsored by the Russian Export Center (REC) with the support of the Russian Agriculture Ministry and the authorities of Sichuan Province. In total 130 manufacturers from Russia are presenting food products, cosmetics, handicrafts and much more at the festival-fair. Russian suppliers are holding meetings with Chinese business partners on the sidelines of the exhibition and discussing joint projects.
This year, the REC has already held two Made in Russia festival-fairs in China. The first was held in January in the cities of Shenyang and Dalian (northeastern Liaoning Province), the second was held in May in Harbin (Heilongjiang Province bordering Russia). In September, President Vladimir Putin praised the Made in Russia program for promoting national products. The President stressed that Russian goods with high added value should not only be recognizable, but also accessible to foreign buyers.