Russian-Chinese financial council to boost mutual investment - expert

HARBIN /China/, October 15. /TASS/. Creation of the Russian-Chinese financial council, which was officially founded at the 2nd China-Russia Expo in Harbin /Heilongjiang Province/ on Thursday, will boost mutual investment and trade turnover between the two countries, managing director of non-state Russian-Chinese Fund of Strategic Investment /RCFSI/, which entered the institution, Aleksey Posternak told TASS. "People’s Republic of China is shifting to a new stage of its development as it’s becoming a post-industrial economy and is starting to invest in other countries," he said. "In the structure of those investments, which topped $120 bln in 2014, the share of direct private investment is rather small. However, development of such mechanisms as the Russian-Chinese financial council and strengthening of partnership between banks and clients triggers their growth in general and of course boosts private investment," the expert said. "Apart from big structures such as Sberbank, mid-sized financial organizations are also present in it, which is an important step. For us this is obviously a new stage of development of our relations, we consider this as the start of a long way to go, Posternak said. "Despite the fact that Sino-Russian relations are already demonstrating considerable trade turnover results, it’s still just the beginning for such massive economies. The growth potential is huge and I think we haven’t even started to unlock it," he said. "This is a true stride, which will also enhance bigger use of national currencies in the countries’ mutual payments," he said, adding that "a few number of mechanisms has been developed so far" and financial institutions will have to go into it. Russia’s top lender Sberbank and China’s Harbin Bank were initiators of foundation of the Russian-Chinese financial council. Russia is represented by 17 financial institutions in the newly-founded organization, apart from Sberbank including Promsvyazbank, MDM Bank, Russian-Chinese Fund of Strategic Investment /RCFSI/, Asian-Pacific Bank, Primsotsbank and First Czech-Russian Bank. A total of 1,279 companies and organizations are taking part in the Expo. The number of participants is expected to top 10,000 people, with around 4,000 being from Russia. The 2nd China-Russia Expo is held in Harbin between October 12 and 16. The Russian delegation is led by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. The exhibition is attended by representatives of Russia’s regions that are actively developing economic ties with China. Read more