China, Russia to deepen trade, financial ties

Ministerial dialogue sees both sides reaffirm commitment to win-win

China and Russia should deepen bilateral cooperation in the financial sector for more win-win results, officials from the two sides said on Monday.

Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo'an said the two countries should continue to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in the financial sector, support their financial institutions to carry out services in the other country, and provide support for improving trade and investment facilitation.

He told the ninth China-Russia Financial Ministerial Dialogue in Beijing on Monday that "China-Russia relationships showcase strong internal dynamics and resilience", and the dialogue aims to further tap the potential for financial cooperation.

During the dialogue, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on the equivalence of auditing standards and audit oversight.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the signing of the memorandum will lay a solid foundation for the two sides to strengthen audit cooperation, which will also help boost economic development and create more jobs.

Lan said the signing of the memorandum will provide institutional guarantees for cross-border bond issuance by enterprises of both countries.

According to Lan, both sides will further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in fiscal and tax policies, and more efforts should be made to encourage think tanks of both countries to enhance sharing of experiences and collaborative research through seminars and reciprocal visits.

Data from China's General Administration of Customs showed bilateral trade surged 26.7 percent year-on-year to a historical high of $218.2 billion in the January-November period, achieving the goal set by the two sides to be reached before 2024.

In 2022, China-Russia trade increased by 29.3 percent year-on-year, reaching $190.27 billion. The two countries had previously set a goal to lift the bilateral trade to $200 billion by 2024.

Referring to many unstable and uncertain factors in the external environment, Lan called for more efforts to strengthen macroeconomic policy communication and coordination, saying that will contribute to global prosperity and stability.

During the dialogue, the two sides also had in-depth discussions on the macroeconomic situation and policies, cooperation within multilateral frameworks such as the G20 and BRICS, reform of multilateral development banks, and collaboration on financial and audit supervision. They also held discussions to facilitate in-depth exchanges on mutual concerns.

Trade between China and Russia has "big prospects" to grow further, Russian First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Vasily Osmakov said during the sixth China International Import Expo in Shanghai in November.

He also said China and Russia's relationship has achieved big progress in many fields. He expects Chinese imports from Russia, which are mainly agricultural products and software, will further expand to include more industrial products like pharmaceutical products, chemicals and machinery equipment.