The Fifth Oriental Economic Forum is scheduled to be held in Vladivostok, Russia, from 4 to 6 September 2019. In an interview on the eve of the opening of the Forum, Russian Far East and Arctic Development Minister Alexander Kozlov said that in recent years, Russia-China Far East cooperation has been deepening in the fields of road and bridge construction, energy, Arctic waterway, industry, agriculture and forestry, and many Chinese-funded projects have advanced smoothly. Russia hopes to continue to develop with China in the Russian Far East. Develop relationships in all fields.

Leaders of the Five Countries Gathered at the Oriental Economic Forum

Q: In recent years, Russia-China-Far East cooperation has been deepening in many fields. What is the specific situation at present?

A: Over the past four years, the Russian Far East has received about US$33 billion in foreign direct investment, accounting for one third of the total foreign direct investment in Russia during the same period. Investment from China accounts for about 71% of the total investment in the Russian Far East. The investment fields mainly include transportation logistics, agriculture, petroleum and chemical industry, wood processing and ore mining and processing.

Q: According to Russian assessment, the construction project of "Bragovishensk-Heihe" highway bridge connecting Amur State of Russia and Heilongjiang Province of China is expected to be completed in December 2019 and put into use in spring 2020. So if we want to rely on the highway bridge to develop border trade smoothly, what preparations need to be done?

A: If we want to rely on the highway bridge to develop border trade smoothly, we need to form an economic zone near the bridge. Russia and China are negotiating on this idea. In this economic zone, we need to build transport and logistics facilities, foreign exchange exchange exchange points and expand the existing airports. These measures are expected to multiply the scale of cross-border economic and trade cooperation between Russia and China.

The following Ninskoye-Tongjiang Railway Bridge

The following Ninskoye-Tongjiang railway bridge connecting the Russian Jewish Autonomous Prefecture and Heilongjiang Province of China is expected to be put into service in the spring of 2020. After the implementation of the overall construction plan of the bridge in phases, the annual freight volume through the bridge is expected to reach 20 million tons.

Q: Residents of the two countries have long looked forward to building bridges on the Russian-Chinese border river. The opening of the two bridges will be of historic significance. It is believed that over time more bridges of friendship will cross the border between Russia and China. In addition, what other aspects do China and Russia have in mind?

A: The "Binhai No. 1" and "Binhai No. 2" international transport corridors jointly built by China and Russia connect northeastern China with the Russian Far East coastal ports by road and railway. At present, Russia is building two branches for "Binhai 1" corridor. In the first half of 2019, Binhai No. 1's freight volume doubled year on year, and Binhai No. 2's container freight volume nearly doubled year on year. Nevertheless, the freight potential of these two corridors is still far from being fully exploited, for which Russia needs a lot of investment.

Q: What are the plans for energy cooperation?

A: Energy is a traditional area of cooperation between Russia and China. Energy cooperation between the two countries will continue to develop. It is expected that the Siberian Power pipeline in Russia will supply gas to China for the first time in 2019. According to the design, the pipeline supplies about 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to China. In addition, the natural gas transported by this pipeline will be disposed of by Amur Natural Gas Processing Plant in the future, and China has participated in the construction of the plant.

China hopes to participate in the modernization project of the Arctic waterway. Russia regards China as its most important partner. The partners of the two countries have successfully implemented the Yamal LNG project in the Russian Arctic region. Chinese enterprises have participated in the transportation of LNG in the Arctic waterway, which has made a good start for Russia and China to expand Arctic cooperation.

Q: What cooperation has China and Russia made in industrial projects?

A: At present, there are about 50 Chinese-funded projects in several "advanced development zones" and the free port of Vladivostok in the Russian Far East. About a quarter of them are industrial investment projects. In addition, the Russian Far East has a strong interest in scientific and technological research and development cooperation with China. China has a large number of innovative technologies and a large scale of production of scientific and technological products. Russian-Chinese R&D cooperation is one of the priority directions of Russian Far East development.

Q: What areas of cooperation does Russia plan to strengthen in the future?

A: According to Russia's plan, Russia will increase the export of milk, poultry, soybean and soybean products in the future, and begin to export a large amount of beef and mutton. At present, the Russian and Chinese administrative departments are examining and approving the list of Russian enterprises that can export milk and poultry to China.

In terms of soybean export, the Russian government plans to export 2 million tons of soybean to China in the Russian Far East by 2024. For this reason, Russia will open up soybean planting areas and cultivate this crop efficiently. Far-southeast Russia is one of the main soybean producing areas in Russia, which is adjacent to China. In addition, Chinese enterprises are investing in soybean, rice and maize planting, soybean processing and granary construction projects in the Russian Far East.

At present, it is more advantageous to engage in timber processing in the Russian Far East. Chinese investors are implementing more than 10 timber processing projects in the Russian Far East. Editor/ Zhao Jing