Heilongjiang rolls out the red carpet

Despite the slowdown in Sino-Russian bilateral trade volumes since last year, Chinese government officials are still confident that it can be boosted in the next few years.

Bilateral trade between Russia and its neighboring Heilongjiang province in Northeast China is expected to be crucial to this endeavor. The Heilongjiang government, on its part, would create more platforms to help enterprises from China and Russia to cooperate and sign trade and investment deals, said Sun Yao, vice-governor of Heilongjiang province.

"The Harbin International Economic & Trade Fair, a prestigious event which has been held for 19 years, has been connecting businesses from China and Russia and, as such, is an important catalyst for trade relations," he said.