China interested in making Russia its major trading partner - Foreign Ministry

BEIJING, October 13. /TASS/. China is looking forward to Russia becoming one of its major trading partner and hails the restoration of bilateral trade growth, Director-General of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Department of European and Central Asian Affairs, Gui Congyou, told Russian reporters on Thursday. "China is interested in Russia moving up the ladder in the list of China’s foreign trade partners, and we hope that Russia will be able to become a major partner for China in the immediate future," the diplomat said. He noted that this year Russia and China had been able to overcome the negative dynamics of the bilateral trade turnover and restore its growth. "Currently, the world oil prices are recovering, but we cannot expect to reach $100 per barrel. It is important for us to develop new steps to expand cooperation in trade and open markets mutually," he said. According to the data released by China’s General Administration of Customs on Thursday, the trade turnover between Russia and China grew by 0.4% to reach $50.27 bln in the first three quarters of this year on a year-on-year basis. China’s exports to Russia within the same period grew by 7.1% reaching $26.98 bln, while imports decreased by 6.4% to $23.3 bln. In 2015, the bilateral trade turnover decreased by 27.8% to 422.7 billion yuan ($64.2 bln). Meanwhile, exports of Chinese goods to Russia last year fell 34.4% to 216.2 billion yuan ($32.9 bln), while imports of Russian goods to China decreased by 19.1% to 206.5 billion yuan ($31.4 bln). Read more