MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/. Trade turnover between Russia and China in 2022 is expanding at an extraordinary pace, Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Birichevsky said in an interview with Rossiya-24 TV channel.
"In 2021, we had a trade turnover of around $140 bln with China. It is expanding at an incredible rate this year. We have created a comprehensive system of bilateral cooperation at various levels - from top to regional - in numerous fields and sectors over the last 20 years," he said.
As the diplomat emphasized, Moscow sees another important partner in the region in New Delhi. "India is also the most promising and largest partner in Asia with colossal economic growth, probably the highest in the world, which purchases oil, oil products, military products, agricultural products, and fertilizers from us. We get a whole range of goods from India that we really need right now," he added.
Russia’s trade representative in China Alexey Dakhnovsky said earlier that the volume of bilateral trade between Russia and China may reach $185-190 bln at the end of 2022. "As for forecasts, this is a thankless task, especially in the current situation, there are so many variables that may change in any direction," he said in response to a question about when Russia and China will be able to accomplish their $200 bln bilateral trade target.
According to him, variables can include "goods prices, anti-pandemic efforts, and the timing of the restart of trade in services". "When talking about a goal, people often confuse trade turnover and the volume of bilateral trade," the trade representative said. He noted that "trade turnover only covers trade in goods and excludes trade in services, which before the pandemic amounted to more than $14 bln and has declined dramatically 1.5-2-fold". He noted that currently "tourism has completely stopped".
The authorities of Russia and China have set the goal of bringing the volume of bilateral trade up to $200 bln a year. In June of this year, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said that the annual trade turnover between Russia and China could reach $200 bln ahead of schedule, by the end of 2022.
At the end of 2021, the volume of bilateral trade increased by 35.8% to $146.88 bln.