Sixth China-Russia Expo opens with focus on local-level cooperation

The Sixth China-Russia Expo opened Saturday in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, with a focus on promoting China-Russia cooperation at local levels.

The five-day event has attracted more than 1,700 enterprises from 74 countries and regions, according to the organizing committee.

Wang Yingchun, head of the Heilongjiang provincial council for the promotion of international trade, said a total of 1,246 enterprises from China and 137 enterprises from Russia have signed up for the event.

Andrei Ostrovsky, deputy director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said on the sidelines of the expo that the event provided a platform for Chinese and Russian enterprises to deepen cooperation, and Russia’s Siberia and Far East hoped to seize the opportunities brought by the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

The China-Russia Expo has served as an important platform for bilateral economic and trade cooperation since it was first launched in Harbin in 2014. Last year, the expo was held in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

Wu Zhengping, head of the Trade Development Bureau of China’s Ministry of Commerce, said he hoped this year’s expo would help Chinese and Russian enterprises further cooperate in mining, forestry, tourism, technology, education and finance.

Bilateral trade between China and Russia has seen rapid growth in recent years. China has been Russia’s largest trading partner for eight consecutive years, and the bilateral trade volume exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars last year.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Russia. Earlier this month, the two countries agreed to upgrade their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era.