(Fighting against New Crown Pneumonia) Chinese Ambassador to Russia: China-Russia bilateral trade rises against the trend in the first quarter
China News Agency, Moscow, June 11 (Reporter Wang Xiujun) Chinese ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui recently said in an interview with Russian media that despite the impact of the epidemic, the fundamentals and long-term upward trend of Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation have not changed, and the prospects for cooperation between the two sides Still expected.
Zhang Hanhui said that the Sino-Russian trade volume in the first quarter of this year was US$25.35 billion, an increase of 3.4% year-on-year, and the growth rate ranked second among China's major trading partners. Among them, China imported 16.2 billion US dollars from Russia, a year-on-year increase of 17.3%, and the import growth rate ranked first among China's major trading partners. With the current international epidemic continuing to spread and the severe impact on the world economy and trade, the bilateral trade between China and Russia rose against the trend in the first quarter. The achievements were hard-won, highlighting the resilience and potential of China-Russia economic and trade relations.
Zhang Hanhui said that the cooperation between China and Russia in the traditional fields of energy and chemical industry, aerospace and equipment manufacturing, as well as in emerging fields such as e-commerce, technological innovation and biomedicine, is continuing to advance. The impact of the epidemic is periodic. The fundamentals and long-term upward trend of Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation have not changed, and the prospects for cooperation between the two sides are still expected. Relevant departments of the two countries will continue to work closely together to meet the challenges of the epidemic, promote the continuous development of cooperation, and earnestly implement the goal set by the leaders of the two countries to increase the bilateral trade volume between China and Russia to US$200 billion by 2024.
Prior to this, the leaders of China and Russia jointly declared this year and next two years as the "Sino-Russian Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation". Zhang Hanhui said that the challenges brought about by the new Coronary Pneumonia epidemic are unprecedented. The planned activities of the China-Russia Year of Science and Technology Innovation will inevitably be greatly affected, but the national year will not be postponed or canceled. At present, the two sides are maintaining close communication on the timely opening of the opening ceremony by video, and will adjust the activities of the second half of 2020 according to the development of the epidemic situation, and strive to minimize the impact of the epidemic situation.
Zhang Hanhui said that while the epidemic has brought adverse effects, the content, forms and methods of Sino-Russian scientific and technological innovation cooperation are facing new demands and also bringing new opportunities. Faced with the common challenge of New Coronavirus, under the framework of the Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation, China and Russia will further strengthen scientific and technological cooperation in public health, biosecurity and other fields, share prevention and control experience, diagnosis and treatment plans, and strengthen the research and development of special drugs and vaccines. Cooperation to contribute to the strength of China and Russia in maintaining international health security The epidemic situation also promoted the rapid application of new technologies. Artificial intelligence, big data, remote conferencing, cloud computing and other new technologies have provided favorable support for the epidemic prevention and generated new ways of work, communication and cooperation. All these provide new directions for the focus and mode of Sino-Russian technological innovation cooperation. (Finish)