Special Supplement: Cross-border trade booming with neighbor Russia

Heilongjiang, a northeastern province that China wants to redevelop into a major heavy industrial cluster, plans to more than double trade volume with neighboring Russia by expanding co-operation in industries ranging from resource mining to property development.

Cross-border trade between Heilongjiang and Russia are forecast to reach $14 billion, an increase from $6.69 billion in 2006.

"We will facilitate important co-operation projects with Russia," the Heilongjiang provincial government said in a statement.

"We will speed up partnership in areas like oil, petrochemical, machinery, food and pharmaceuticals."

Sharing a borderline of more than 3,000 kilometers with Russia, Heilongjiang Province boasts the largest trade partner in the country.

The province's trade with Russia in the first four months of this year hit a record high of $2.19 billion, statistics show. The number increased 23.2 percent year-on-year and contributed 17.6 percent of China's total trade with Russia.

Private companies are proving to be a dynamic force in Russia-oriented trade in the province, notching up $1.96 billion in the first four months of this year, an increase of 30.39 percent year-on-year.

Heilongjiang accounts for a fifth of China's bilateral trade with Russia. The province has taken the advantage of increased exchanges between the two neighboring countries over the past years, pushing its business ties with Russia into a new level.

Russia is China's eighth largest trade partner, while China ranks third among Russia's trade partners.

The bilateral trade between China and Russia, which has been growing for eight consecutive years since 1999, may exceed $40 billion this year, according to a Chinese government official.

The trade volume was $20.5 billion for the first half of this year, said Wang Jingsong, an official with the European department of China's Ministry of Commerce.

Sino-Russian trade has recorded an average annual 28.6 percent growth since 1999.

The two nations target a trade volume of $60-80 billion for 2010.

China's non-financial direct investment in Russia was $935 million, while Russia had invested $610 million in China by the end of last year.

As business exchanges with Russia flourish, an increasing number of workers are flocking to the neighboring country to work.

According to statistics from the regional government, a total of 1,729 Chinese workers migrated to Russia from Heilongjiang between January and April this year, more than double the number for the same period in the previous year.

These workers are from Heilongjiang Province's villages in areas like Heihe, Suihua and Wangkui, and went to Russia to work in agriculture, building construction and forestry.

Heilongjiang Province has mapped out plans to boost its economic and trade cooperation with Russia over the next five years, the province's government leaders said last year.

Wang Limin, vice-governor of Heilongjiang Province, said the government would give full support to boosting business ties with Russia.

The province will make breakthroughs with Russia in the fields of energy, raw materials, processing of agricultural products as well as border trade, he said.

(China Daily 09/05/2007 page12)