14 June in Harbin was held the fourth meeting of the high level group of experts of China and Russia in the framework of the project “One belt, one road”.
This time the meeting was held by the government of China’s Heilongjiang province, jointly with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). It is not only the fourth meeting of Russia and China at the highest level in the framework of the project: at this time also held the 28th Harbin international economic and trade fair.
Experts and scientists from Russia, China, the European Union participated in this meeting. During the discussion, scientists and specialists from various countries actively discussed Russian-Chinese economic cooperation project “One belt, one road”, “Sino-Mongolian economic corridor”, the cooperation with the Eurasian economic Union. The participants of the meeting managed to reach consensus on key issues.
First, Russia and China have a good potential for cooperation in the economic sphere. Deepening Russian-Chinese strategic cooperation and partnership has become a new starting point in the history of relations between the two countries. Recently in Beijing held a forum in the framework of the project “One belt, one road”. The talks were quite productive, in the process, the two sides reached agreements on a number of issues.
A meeting in Heilongjiang provides the opportunity for integration of the province government project “One belt, one road” and “China-Mongolia economic corridor.” At the same time, it is necessary to gradually raise the level of Russian-Chinese business cooperation, to implement the agreements reached at the forum arrangement, to accelerate the construction of new “model full openness”. This time, Heilongjiang province is characterized by open cooperation with the outside world. The conference participants advocated expanding areas of business cooperation between Russia and China in the areas of: investment, energy, science and technology, agriculture, environment, transport, culture. It is especially important to speed up the formation mechanism of Russian-Chinese free trade zone, cooperation in major strategic projects to support the Russian-Chinese comprehensive economic rapid development.
Second, the two countries ‘ cooperation in major projects. The interaction between the two countries in scientific-technical sphere will bring a new stage of Russian-Chinese trade and economic cooperation. Russia and China, the two countries developed in different areas, but from an economic point of view, have great potential for cooperation mainly in the energy sector, agriculture, in the sphere of forest industry, fisheries, tourism, in the field of infrastructure construction, and the most promising areas are: aviation, aerospace, clean energy resources, joint development of new energy sources, environmental protection. Cooperation in these areas will bring economic and trade relations between the two countries to a new level. Today cooperation between Russia and China brings visible results in the field of space exploration and in the development of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The participants stated that the acceleration of trade and economic cooperation with Russia and the development of high-performance multi-level interaction will help to create for the three Northern provinces of China (Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang) good scientific and technical base and will help to solve the problem of industrial development. Now it is necessary to pay special attention to Asian regions of Russia, such as Siberia and the far East, it is important to accelerate the development of these regions.
Third, now is the time to develop the far East. In the case of effective integration into the project “One belt, one road” and in the organization of States (the”Eurasian economic Union”) would be guaranteed the cooperation of Russia and China in major projects, and formed a mechanism of cooperation between the two powers. Experts believe that the industrial base in the Far East is outdated and that a strategic cooperation between the two countries “toward the East” will help to modernize the industrial base. China and Russia are perfectly complementary. Joint cooperation has huge potential. Two States ought not to miss the opportunity to use favorable conditions for the development of the Far East and the free port of Vladivostok. Now it is necessary to adapt to local conditions, to form an idea of trademarks, and only then the two States can engage in mutually beneficial cooperation.
© AP Photo, Thomas Peter/Pool Photo via Ejournalist at the venue of opening ceremony and “One belt, one road” in Beijing
Fourth, in the framework of the Russian-Chinese economic cooperation, attention should be focused on the construction of transport infrastructure. Russian scientists Ostrovsky, Nesterov and Dunayev in his speech, said they want to accelerate the construction of transport networks to improve the system of cross-border carriage of passengers, and also believe that it is necessary to optimize the Russian-Chinese trade structure, improve transport logistics. Russian experts believe that it will provide the basis for Russian-Chinese border cooperation.
In addition, the experts and the researchers plan to provide assistance for the development of Russian-Chinese cross-border trade, development of industry in the far East and in the Northern Chinese provinces. At the same time, scientists noted that as will change the international political situation, Russia and China could face new problems. These challenges need to respond by deepening bilateral cooperation.
Economic cooperation between Russia and China is currently at the stage of accelerated development, but so far, there are many contradictions: how to expand the range of Russian-Chinese cooperation to bring it to a higher level — at the moment this is a key issue. Meeting of Russian and Chinese experts in the framework of the project “One belt, one road” has completed successfully: scientific cooperation, discussed current problems and methods of solving these problems. To bring economic cooperation between the two countries to a new level we need to use intelligence, knowledge; to show the world the success of the development of Heilongjiang province and the benefits of cooperation with Russia. Now need to contribute to the future prosperity of the two countries.
