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Moscow, Beijing governments sign cooperation program for 2014-2016

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Neijing Mayor Wang Anshun signed the official document after bilateral talks
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin ITAR-TASS/Zurab Dzhavakhadze
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin
© ITAR-TASS/Zurab Dzhavakhadze

BEIJING, May 19. /ITAR-TASS/. A cooperation program between Moscow government and Beijing people’s government for 2014-2106 was signed in the Chinese capital during Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s current visit to China on Monday.

The mayors of the two capital cities inked the official document after bilateral talks.

At a meeting with Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that Moscow and Beijing were linked “with many-century history of cooperation”.

“Economic cooperation is developing actively between our countries and our cities. Moscow accounts for 30% of Chinese-Russian overall trade,” Sobyanin said. “Tourism has been developing very actively for the last few years, tourist flow from China to Moscow goes up about 40% annually,” he added.

“However, I believe that we have a good deal of opportunities to improve cooperation between our cities. Notably, despite a large trade volume the amount of direct investments is very insignificant. The overwhelming majority of foreign investments in Moscow are made from European countries. I find it wrong,” the mayor said. “The volume of investments should be well-balanced from different parts of the world, in particular, from China. This task envisages that cooperation between our cities, between businesses in Moscow and Beijing will reach a new level,” Sobyanin said.

Sergei Sobyanin noted that the program “envisages cooperation practically in all spheres of city economy” for the next three years. 

The Moscow mayor invited the Chinese counterpart to visit Moscow and participate in an Urban Forum which is held in the Russian capital every year.

For his part, Wang Anshun said with confidence that Sobyanin’s visit would continue to promote strengthening and further development of friendly relations between Beijing and Moscow.

Sobyanin will also visit the city of Shanghai and the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.

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