Chinese and Russian institutions and entrepreneurs turned out in force for “The 2023 Sino-Russian Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum,” held in Moscow on April 17. The three sponsors were the China Industrial Development Association, the Academic Committee of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Russia-China General Chamber of Commerce. After the March 21-22 summit in Moscow of President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping, and last week’s Moscow Economic Forum session, headed by Sergey Glazyev, on what Russia needs to learn from China’s economic miracle about credit generation and wiping out poverty, the April 17 forum makes it clear that the Russia-China alliance is more than words.
The opening presentation was by the chairman of the forum, President of China’s Overseas Development Association He Zhenwei. He situated the event, with over 150 entrepreneurs and representatives from relevant institutions, as a follow-on from last month’s Putin-Xi meetings, listing the eight key directions laid out by Putin and Xi to be concentrated on over the next eight years: economy and trade, transportation and logistics, finance, energy, mineral resources, technology, industry and agriculture. And the Joint Statement, called the “Development Plan of the Key Directions of Sino-Russian Economic Cooperation,” was released following the forum.
Gao Shixian, Economic Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Russia, explained that the eight-year program had a solid foundation, as trade volume between the two countries over the last year increased 29%. Expanding practical work in various fields between the two sides is in the fundamental interests of the two peoples and in line with the spirit of global developmental initiatives. Gao cited the guiding role of the consensus reached by Putin and Xi, and called for strengthening coordination, implementing precise policies, and promoting the deepening and solid economic cooperation between the two countries.
