MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. Active cooperation of Russia and China over fight against the coronavirus pandemic will continue, Russian Ambassador to China Andrei Denisov said Friday in an open interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.

"Since effectively the first days of the outbreak, it has become clear that international cooperation would be necessary in terms of supplying medical protective gear, development of drugs as well as assessment of the situation," Denisov said. "In February, our delegation of leading researchers on infectious diseases and epidemiology, the first and the only one of this level, visited China. This cooperation will continue, because both China and other countries have been developing a vaccine, and this work demands joint efforts."

The envoy noted that Russia delivered humanitarian aid to China during the most difficult period for the People’s Republic, providing Chinese specialists with everything necessary. "And then we swapped places: China entered the incidence plateau while Russia entered the acute phase, and our Chinese friends came to our rescue, sending two big planes with 60 tonnes of medical cargo," Denisov noted.

"Russia procured over 200 million medical masks from China, it was a significant aid during the challenging time, there was no other source of medical items of such a scale," the envoy said.

Tourism

Russia and China will succeed in reinstating tourist flow that was hugely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Andrei Denisov told TASS.

According to him, the Russian tourist industry largely focused on Chinese citizens visiting Russia. "We had a vast tourist flow. Despite the fact that we tend to speak about Chinese tourists in Russia, there are also quite a few domestic tourists," the diplomat noted.

"I am convinced that the tourist flow will be revived," Denisov underlined. "It can happen in a more balanced way to create development patterns for the foreseeable future."