China-Russian cooperation worth $160bln, to fortify bilateral ties: FM

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Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's First Asian Department, Georgy Zinovyev, disclosed in an interview with Sputnik that Russia and China are cooperating on investment projects worth approximately $160 billion, adding: "the portfolio of the specialized intergovernmental commission on investment cooperation includes 79 projects."

"Unlike the United States, where an atmosphere of hostility and suspicion is created around investments from China, Russia welcomes investments from China and tries to create a favorable regime for them. Friendly political relations between our countries provide stable conditions for promoting and expanding such cooperation," he said.

It is worth noting that, as part of coordination between the two nations at all levels, China and Russia held their first joint exercises in the western Pacific Ocean between 17 and 23 October of last year after the two nations fortified their cordial ties a month prior.

A growing friendship between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin has helped put the two countries closer together. The ambitions to end what China and Russia regard as America's economic and geopolitical hegemony further strengthened the diplomatic ties.

In 2021, Russia-China trade grew 35.8 percent to a record $146.887 billion and according to China's General Administration of Customs trade between the two global powers in just the first eight months of 2022 increased by 31.4% to $117.205 billion. Even the share of national currencies in Russian-Chinese trade has increased significantly in recent years, per Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, who added that under the new conditions, the goal of increasing Russian-Chinese trade to $200 billion by 2024 is an achievable one.

Customs data showed that China's imports of oil from Russia rose 55% in May, despite Western sanctions on fuel imports from Moscow over the war in Ukraine. The world's second-biggest economy imported around 8.42 million tonnes of oil from Russia last month, surpassing its shipments from Saudi Arabia. Russia has long been a major provider of oil, gas, and coal, as well as food and other raw resources, to China's economy, which is now the world's second-largest and on track to become the largest.

Besides fuel, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs, Li Hui, recommended in June that China and Russia expand on their existing cooperation areas and tackle the field of advanced technologies. "Russia and China should not only enhance the main areas of cooperation – economy, trade, energy, science and technology, aerospace, agriculture – but also expand into new spheres, such as 5G, AI, Big Data, biomedicine, green and low-carbon economy," he said, addressing the 7th International Conference Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era.