Major infrastructure projects bolster Russia-China trade: Russian minister

ST. PETERSBURG, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Major infrastructure projects implemented by Russia and China in the past few years stimulated the growth of Russia-China trade, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunkov said on Thursday.

During the Russia-China business dialogue at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Chekunkov noted that infrastructure projects like the Heihe-Blagoveshchensk cross-border highway bridge and the Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye cross-border railway bridge played an important role in trade turnover increase and opened a new page in the development of bilateral relations.

He also noted that agriculture and clean food, as well as tourism, cultural, humanitarian, scientific ties are promising areas of cooperation between Russia and China.

Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui also spoke about a significant increase in China-Russia trade. In 2022, trade turnover between the two countries exceeded 190 billion U.S. dollars. In the first five months of 2023, there was a steady positive trend - an increase of more than 40 percent in comparison with the same period of 2022.