China-Russia relations are set to embrace yet another highlight moment as Chinese President Xi Jinping travels to Russia on Wednesday for a new state visit and the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Xi's visit is expected to boost the economic ties between the two countries.
Here are some facts and figures revealing the growing vitality of trade between China and Russia as well as broader economic exchanges.
-- Bilateral trade in goods between China and Russia stood at 33.2 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months this year, up 5.8 percent year on year.
-- As Russia's largest trading partner, China's import from the country rose to 18.8 billion dollars, while export was 14.4 billion dollars in the Jan.-April period, up 7.6 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.
-- In 2018, two-way trade between the two countries hit a record high of 107.1 billion dollars, up by 27.1 percent year on year with China's export to Russia growing 12 percent to 47.98 billion dollars, while import surging 42.7 percent to 59.08 billion dollars.
-- Agriculture has become one of the key cooperation areas. In 2018, bilateral trade in agricultural products surged 28.2 percent to 5.23 billion dollars. Of the number, Russia's export to China surged 51.3 percent to 3.21 billion dollars.
-- Major cooperation projects between the two countries have also been steadily carried out in such areas as energy, transportation, aviation and space.
-- The first ship carrying liquefied natural gas from Russia's Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic traversed the sea to China last summer, and millions of tonnes more are expected to be supplied every year. A second line of the China-Russia oil pipeline began commercial operation in 2018, and the east-route natural gas pipeline is expected to supply gas to China by the end of this year.
-- New domains of cooperation keep emerging, including digital economy, small- and medium-sized enterprises, high technology, Far East development and Arctic exploration.
-- Chinese tourists made a total of 1.26 million trips to Russia last year while trips made by Russian tourists to China reached 1.98 million.
