International Railway Traffic Between Russia and China Grows Every Year

International railway traffic among Russia, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and other Northern Asian countries has been growing steadily, Igor Melnikov, chief of the international traffic service of Russia's Far Eastern Railway, said commenting on the outcome of the meeting on coordination of export, import and transit traffic of the Railway Community member countries held the day before in Beijing.

According to Melnikov, in 2002 export freight traffic between Russia and China amounted to 16,819,000 tons, while the planned target had been 15,436,000 tons. It has been agreed that the amount of export freight traffic between Russia and China in 2003 will reach 22,100,000 tons. It has been planned that 6,200,000 tons of cargo, 20 percent more than last year, will be carried through a railway passage across the border section between Grodekovo in the south of Russia's Maritime Territory and Suifenhe in China.

For the first time the volume of a freight traffic of 300,000 tons was agreed upon for another border passage, the one between Kamyshovaya in the Maritime Territory and Honchon.

About 180,000 tons of cargo is planned to be transported between Russia and North Korea this year.

According to Igor Melnikov, the next regular annual meeting of participants of the Railway Community and in the foreign economic activities of the Asia-Pacific Region in 2004 is to be held in Russia.