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Renowned Russian Orientalist and diplomat Vladimir Zakharov stated that significant progress has been made in investment cooperation between China and Russia, but there are still issues to be resolved in areas such as payment and settlement.
Zakharov pointed out that this is Li Qiang's first visit to Moscow and his third meeting with Mishustin as the Premier of the State Council of China. Li Qiang said, 'My visit to Russia this time is to implement the consensus of the two heads of state, continue the friendship for generations, and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation,' which has attracted the attention of all Russian experts.
Li Qiang also held a meeting with Russian President Putin. Putin stated that the two countries have formulated large-scale plans for cooperation in various fields for many years to come, and asked Li Qiang to convey his greetings to President Xi Jinping.
According to Zakharov, after the talks with Mishustin, the two sides agreed on a new version of the Russia China investment cooperation plan, which will implement 86 major projects with a total amount of 18 trillion rubles, involving areas such as raw materials, natural gas chemical industry, agriculture, automobile manufacturing, home appliance production, and transportation and logistics infrastructure construction.
He reminded that by the end of 2023, the trade volume between the two countries has exceeded 240 billion US dollars, which is 2.7 times that of 10 years ago. Meanwhile, Zakharov pointed out that the talks indicate that the payment issue cannot be resolved through the efforts of both governments, as China's major banks are unwilling to intervene due to concerns about Western sanctions. Eliminating these issues will require a significant amount of time, which will affect trade between Russia and China.
Currently, both parties will be more proactive in conducting barter transactions and rely on mutual settlement through Russian banks. There are also issues with cooperation in aircraft manufacturing. The project to jointly produce wide body aircraft has been frozen due to Western sanctions against Russia, as the project plans to extensively use Western components.
Zakharov believes that cooperation in the automotive manufacturing industry has achieved significant success. At present, Chinese cars almost dominate the Russian market. Russia has strong assembly capabilities, but there are problems in the production of automotive components. Therefore, Russia is striving to persuade Chinese manufacturers to engage in deep cooperation and achieve localized production of automobiles in Russia. Experts believe that overall, it can be said that the negotiation process has made progress and should then enter the specific implementation stage of the joint project.
In the Joint Communique of the 29th Regular Meeting between the Chinese and Russian Prime Ministers issued by the two countries, it was emphasized that both sides will continue to comprehensively deepen cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, investment, energy, finance, technology, culture, and local areas in accordance with the consensus reached by the two heads of state, work together to enhance the stability of practical cooperation, and jointly promote the all-round mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries to a new level. Consolidate and develop payment and settlement infrastructure, including opening agent accounts and branch offices in the other country.