At a state reception marking Russia Day on Friday, Russian Ambassador to Beijing Andrey Denisov said that the opening of the first automobile bridge across the Amur River between China and Russia, as well as the start of cargo traffic, will help boost trade turnover between the two countries to $200 billion.

"Russia and China are building bridges, not destroying them. And not only figuratively but also literally at that. I am happy to inform everyone that this morning there was an official opening ceremony of the first trans-border vehicular bridge across the Amur River in the vicinity of the cities of Blagoveshchensk and Heihe," he said.

"Undoubtedly, the new border crossing will play a significant part in the development of mutual trade between our countries which displays high growth rates and is set for a new record this year - I think, there are all chances to reach the mark of $200 bln," the diplomat noted.

The Amur River vehicle bridge between Blagoveshchensk and China's Heihe opened to traffic on Friday morning. The Kani-Kurgan - Heihe border post was used by each country to send eight cargo vehicles.

In March, amid the Western sanctions campaign against Russia, trade between Russia and China went up 38.5% in the first two months of this year, as compared to the same period of last year, the Chinese General Administration of Customs informed.

Russia-China trade in January-February 2022 amounted to $26.431 billion. China’s export to Russia increased by 41.5% and amounted to $12.617 billion, while Russia’s export to China went up 35.8% and amounted to $13.813 billion.