China expects record trade with Russia – envoy

The countries have achieved unseen levels of cooperation and are keen to deepen ties, China’s ambassador to Russia has said

Russia and China have boosted trade turnover to record volumes and may reach their target of $200 billion ahead of schedule, China’s ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui told TASS news agency on Wednesday.

In February 2022 Moscow and Beijing signed a declaration on strategic partnership and, in April,  they agreed to bring bilateral trade to $200 billion by 2024.

The Chinese diplomat pointed out that volumes of mutual trade are growing rapidly and are “updating a historic maximum” time and again. Russia-China trade is expected to surge by 25% by the end of 2022 and may exceed $180 billion, Zhang said, adding that “we are full of confidence that Chinese-Russian cooperation will receive a new, big development, despite the negative consequences of the pandemic.”

READ MORE: Russian oil giant wants to supply gas to China – Kommersant

Last year, in the period from January to November, volumes of agricultural turnover between the countries surged by 36% to $6 billion, according to official data. Moscow and Beijing also completed a number of projects in transport infrastructure, including the launch of railroad and motorway bridges over the Amur River in the Far East, which separates the countries.

The ambassador also noted that Russia and China are ready “to restore mutual travel of citizens as soon as possible” and to deepen their strategic cooperation in various sectors such as tourism, education, sport and cultural relations.

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