Russian-Chinese economic cooperation potential not fully tapped, says ambassador

BEIJING, April 19. /TASS/. The potential of the trade and economic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing is not fully tapped so far, Russia’s Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov told a press conference in Friday. "I believe that our trade and economic cooperation still lags behind its potential," he said. "We are very good at (implementing) big investment projects in basic industries, while unfortunately cooperation at the level of small and medium-sized enterprises still substantially lags behind, truth be told," the diplomat emphasized. Denisov suggests that there are various reasons for that, among them "insufficient knowledge of the markets of each other (both by Russian entrepreneurs and Chinese partners), as well as an insufficiently favorable environment in the opinion of businessmen themselves at the level of SMEs cooperation," he explained. "A solid and future-oriented legislative framework has been created, whereas the use of legal standards still lags behind and carries little credibility with Russian and Chinese entrepreneurs," the ambassador said, adding though that it is important for their rapid expansion. In 2016, trade turnover between Russia and China gained 2.2% in annual terms to $69.52 bln. In 2017, it increased by 20.8% to $84.07 bln, while last year it soared 27.1% to over $107 bln. Read more