Official: Russia hopes for preferential trade regimes with China

HARBIN, China, Jun 17 (PRIME) -- Moscow hopes that Beijing will lift all restrictions for Russian businesses and introduces preferential trade regimes with China, business ombudsman Boris Titov said on June 15 during a China–Russia EXPO.

“We cannot know when exactly all (trade) restrictions will be lifted, but a long-awaited restriction was lifted earlier this year – a restriction on exports of poultry, and several Russian producers received permits from the Chinese regulators to export their meat to China. We expect the same to happen with pork,” he said.

He said he hoped that all restrictions, including on Russian agricultural goods, would be lifted, and that China will consider a preferential regime for bilateral trade with Russia that it uses with some other countries. In the future, the two countries should reach the most favored nation treatment regime in bilateral trade, he said.

He also said that Russia’s exports of wine to China are restricted by import duties, while other countries import their wines without any duties.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov said that Russian regions are ready to offer joint power and energy projects to their Chinese partners, as well as cooperation in the transport, logistics, aviation, telecommunications, and other hi-tech sectors.

The regions are also ready to raise exports of energy, ores, power machines, aviation engines, goods of the nuclear, chemical, and agriculture industries. Russia has very ambitious plans for exports of soybeans to China, and exports of milk are also promising, he said.

Aisen Nikolayev, head of the republic of Yakutia, said that possible resumption of cargo transportation through the Dzhalinda–Mohe point, suspended in the early 2000s, should significantly simplify exports of coal and other goods from Yakutia to China as they now have to make go through ports of the Primorsky Region.

“As of today, all our coal exports go through the ports of the Primorsky Region, and we all know the current situation in the ports, including the ecologic side of it, so it would be profitable for everyone to cut the route by several thousands of kilometers and launch direct supplies to the clients,” he said.

Rustam Minnikhanov, president of the republic of Tatarstan, said that the republic was interested in promoting its products in China, including trucks, helicopters, and medical instruments that the republican companies produce.

Russian trade representative to China Sergei Inyushin told PRIME that Moscow was working very actively to launch a trade representation in Hong Kong, but that deadline of the launch was unclear.

“We have an office in Shanghai, and we think that a trade representation office in Hong Kong will significantly support promotion of exports,” he said.

Russia has all prerequisites to become the key exporter of soy to China. Soy is a strategic product for China, and imports of the product may reach U.S. $40–50 billion in the future, because Beijing is interested in reliable suppliers, he said.

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