Technologies lure with resources – Newspaper Kommersant No. 48 (7493) of 03/22/2023

The authorities of Russia and China are counting on a further increase in the trade turnover of the two countries and “optimization” of its structure following the talks held in Moscow with the participation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. In 2022, mutual trade has already grown by 30% against the background of a sharp reorientation to the east of both Russian exports and imports – with a general decline in imports to the Russian Federation by 11.7% due to sanctions restrictions, the import of goods from China increased by 12.8% . The Russian government expects that cooperation with China will become more technological, in the context of the growing isolation of the Russian Federation from Western technologies, the dependence of Russian business on such a partnership has increased dramatically.

Russia and China intend to increase trade turnover and “optimize” its structure, develop logistics, raise the level of financial cooperation (including through trade in national currencies and “continuing interaction and exchange of experience in the field of payments”), Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a joint statement. and Chinese President Xi Jinping on a plan to develop key areas of Russian-Chinese economic cooperation until 2030. In total, the statement lists eight priorities, including energy, metallurgy, the chemical industry, the agro-industrial complex, as well as the expansion of industrial cooperation and the development of technologies.

The development of bilateral trade was also discussed at the talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and members of the government. The Russian Federation is counting on “cooperation in high-tech areas”, including aircraft building, mechanical engineering, machine tool building, space research, end-to-end technologies, as well as a further increase in exports of agricultural products from Siberia and the Far East to China. Xi Jinping, in turn, said at the meeting that “China attaches great importance to cooperation in creating a docking between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union”, and also expects “to fully implement the agreement on trade and economic cooperation between the EAEU and China” (currently it does not provide for trade preferences).

According to the head of the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation Maxim Reshetnikov, the parties discussed the supply of Russian energy carriers and agricultural products, the use of nuclear energy and space exploration, transport infrastructure projects, the development of tourism and investment. In total, 79 projects are currently being discussed within the framework of the bilateral investment commission, including, according to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, we are talking about attracting Chinese partners to construction LNG plant and gas chemical complex in Ust-Luga.

It should be noted that by the end of 2022, the turnover of Russian-Chinese trade has already grown by 30%, to $185 billion, both due to the export of energy resources (China, along with India, became the main importer of Russian oil after the introduction of the European embargo on its imports in December), and from -for the reorientation of non-primary supplies (total food exports from the Russian Federation increased by 41.4% last year) and the replacement of import flows from the EU and other countries that have approved restrictions on supplies (mainly they relate to the export of high-tech products and dual-use products). According to Chinese customs statistics, Chinese exports to Russia increased by 12.8% over the year (to $76.1 billion), while imports from Russia to China grew by 43.4% (to $114.2 billion). Russian data on trade with individual countries is still closed.

Under the growth of deliveries, it is planned to expand the transport infrastructure in the eastern direction, and increase the capacity of border crossings (previously, transportation was complicated, including by the anti-COVID measures in force in China). In addition, China is ready to participate in joint projects in the Arctic, including in the construction of ice-class ships (China’s shipbuilding companies already occupy 60% of the world market). “Cooperation between Russian and Chinese shipyards is one of the promising areas of work on the Northern Sea Route. It is also promising to develop joint projects for the transit of goods, because the NSR offers a 40% shorter route from China to Europe,” said Alexei Chekunkov, head of the Ministry for the Development of the Far East, yesterday. For the construction of infrastructure, the parties will be able to apply the preferential regimes in force in the Far East (including international ASEZs, which provide more significant benefits) – a separate memorandum of the Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Ministry of Commerce of the PRC was signed about this. In turn, memorandums were signed with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation on the promotion of joint investment projects in the field of deep wood processing and exhibition and fair activities.

In the meantime, trade is growing on China’s refusal of “zero tolerance” for the coronavirus. “This gave the green light to Chinese customs services to lift covid restrictions at China-Russia border crossings,” notes Igor Rebelsky, founder of VIG Trans. “Since the beginning of the year, all of them have been canceled, and Russian couplers can freely enter bonded warehouses in China. Even using the example of our company, we see a sharp jump in road transport from China by 30%,” the expert adds.

It should be noted that the growth of trade turnover with the Russian Federation occurs in parallel with the introduction of additional restrictions on the export of American products to China. After the “trade war” between the two countries in 2018-2019, these supplies have not reached the level agreed upon by the bilateral deal in January 2020, states a fresh report from the Peterson Institute for International Economics. In particular, deliveries of aircraft and cars decreased, and in general, industrial exports decreased by 3%.

Tatyana Edovina