China and Russia should make joint efforts to raise bilateral
trade and economic cooperation to a new level by adjusting the
commodity trade structure, increasing mutual investments and
enhancing coordination, visiting Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo
said Tuesday.
In a speech at the Forum on Border and Inter-Regional
Cooperation between China and Russia, Wu, chairman of the Standing
Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, said bilateral
trade and economic cooperation between the two neighboring
countries has enjoyed substantial development in recent years and
greatly contributed to the development of the Sino-Russian
relations of strategic partnership.
Bilateral trade amounted to US$15.76 billion last year and
showed a strong momentum in the first quarter of this year,
increasing by 35.6 percent. It is expected to reach US$20.0 billion
by the end of this year.
Noting that there is still great potential for further
development for bilateral trade and economic cooperation, Wu
suggested that some measures be taken by both China and Russia to
fulfill the potential.
Since labor-intensive, low value-added products and primary
products account for a big portion of total bilateral commodity
trade, both countries should try to improve the commodity trade
structure by increasing the technical competence of the products
and enhancing their quality, Wu said.
To promote bilateral economic cooperation to a new level, both
countries should actively increase mutual direct investments in the
fields of energy and resources exploitation, infrastructure
construction and hi-tech development, Wu said.
He spoke positively of the prosperous border trade and regional
cooperation between China and Russia. The border trade amounted to
US$3.52 billion last year, accounting for 22.3 percent of the total
bilateral trade.
Highlighting the importance of drawing more competitive
enterprises to get involved in bilateral trade and economic
cooperation, Wu suggested that Chinese companies be encouraged to
take part in the development of Russia's Far East and Siberian
region and Russian enterprises be welcomed to join the Chinese
government's campaigns of reinvigorating northeast China and
developing the western region.
He also noted that both governments should try to improve the
cooperation environment based on the principles of mutual benefits
and trusts and enhance consultations and coordination on the major
issues of bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
Russia is the first leg of Wu's four-nation European tour which
will also take him to Bulgaria, Denmark and Norway.
(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2004)