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378083
Mon, 08/24/2015 - 11:31
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Sanctions influence China-Russia financial cooperation - representative of Commerce Ministry

BEIJING, August 21. /TASS/. Western sanctions influence the cooperation between Russian and Chinese banks, head of the Europe and Central Asia Department of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce Lin Zhi said on Friday. Anti-Russia sanctions imposed by western countries due to events in Ukraine cover a number of Russian banks, including top lenders Sberbank and VTB, which cannot raise long-term financing on global capital markets. "This first of all impacts finances. Many Russian banks, which make settlement payments with China, are facing difficulties. We also use SWIFT system, which has some certain limitations for Russian banks," Lin Zhi said. Some Russian lenders under sanctions said they witnessed longer payment periods via the international payment system SWIFT. Formally, there are no limitations for operations of Russian banks via SWIFT though the issue of disconnecting Russian lenders from SWIFT is being occasionally discussed by politicians in the European Union /EU/ and the US. "We can hardly assess the degree of influence of Russian sanctions against the US and EU on the Russian-Chinese business ties. But this is very sensitive for financial instruments, especially for banks, which settle accounts via SWIFT," Lin Zhi said. After anti-Russia sanctions were imposed many banks expected to substitute financing in China and other countries of the Asian and Pacific region for western financing though some experts say those hopes failed. Representative of China’s Commerce Ministry said Russian and Chinese banks are actively cooperating despite sanctions, which is proved by signing of a number of financial and credit agreements during the visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow in May 2015. Also, the plan is to sign an agreement between banks in the financial sector during the visit of Russian President to China in September 2015, Lin Zhi said. Read more

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