Putin sets task of bringing Sino-Russian trade volumes $100bn

Russia and China will be able to bring reciprocal trade up to 100 billion dollars by 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday after talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Reciprocal trade, Putin said, grew by 5.1% last year to reach almost 90 billion dollars. The Russian president believes the task of bringing it to 100 billion dollars by 2015 is quite realistic. Putin noted that multi-dimensional cooperation between Russia and China met the interests of people in both countries. The Russian leader added that the sides intended to encourage investment projects. The mutual amount of direct investments (about 5.5 billion dollars) did not fully disclose the potential of Russian and Chinese economies. “We agreed to be more active in using the potential of the Russian-Chinese Investment Fund. Special attention will be paid to infrastructure and production projects in Russia’s Far East,” Putin said. President Putin had declared 2014-2015 to be a year of youth exchanges between Russia and China. The initiative came from visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. “We are going to support this initiative. We will do everything to enable our young people to communicate freely, discuss joint projects and plan joint initiatives for historical perspective,” Putin said. The Russian leader said that in previous years large-scale events in culture, art and education had contributed to deeper humanitarian cooperation. Putin said that the Year of Russian tourism had taken place in China. The number of Chinese tourists visiting Russia is on the rise. “The year of Chinese tourism is kicking off in Russia today,” the Russian president said. “In 2010, Mr. Xi Jinping and I discussed the possibility of preparing an exposition devoted to the 6th Congress of the Communist Party of China. The congress took place in the village of Pervomaiskoye near Moscow in 1928. We agreed to open a permanent exposition in that village,” the Russian head of state said.