BEIJING: Governor of Chinese province Heilongjiang, Lu Hao, said that province Heilongjiang invested up to $1 billion dollars in the Russian economy last year.
An official said that the turnover in foreign trade between Heilongjiang Province, which borders on Russia along the Amur river in the country’s far east, grew by 4.1 percent to reach 23.2 billion dollars last year.
“Heilongjiang’s investments have reached 1 billion dollars. It amounts to about 30 percent of the total volume of Chinese investments in Russia,” Lu Hao said.
The governor added that the cooperation between the two neighboring countries stretched beyond the regions along the border.
“During these years two things have changed: a general breakthrough happened in the sphere of trade cooperation with Russia, and not only in the borderline regions; through the trade between the borderline regions a shift has happened in all areas of cooperation,” Lu Hao said.
Russia is China’s ninth largest trading partner. Trade turnover between the two countries increased by almost seven percent in 2014, reaching $95.3 billion, according to the Chinese customs department.
Moscow and Beijing have signed a number of strategically important agreements over the past year, including a $400-billion deal last May to deliver Russian gas to China for the next 30 years.
