This Year Trade Between Russia And China Will Approach Ten Billion Dollars

Moscow expects that this year trade between Russia and China will approach a ten billion dollar level. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said this in an interview which he gave to the Chinese newspaper Renmin Ribao. As RIA Novosti was told in the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, this interview will be published in the Chinese newspaper on Thursday. According to Igor Ivanov, when several years ago the leaders of our countries set the task of bringing trade between them to ten billion dollars, this seemed fantastic to some people. "But now this target is very close," said Igor Ivanov. In 2000, he continued, the trade between our countries went up by 40 percent and reached the record mark of eight billion dollars. Thus, trade and economic contacts between our countries are on the rise, pointed out the Russian minister. Documents have been signed concerning the Russia - China oil pipeline and the purchase by China of a consignment of Russian passenger planes. Large-scale plans have been also mapped out for developing cooperation in the sphere of the power industry and high technologies. As for Russian-Chinese political relations, they are, according to the Russian Foreign Minister, "on an unprecedentedly high level." This can be seen, in his opinion, from the atmosphere and the effectiveness of the dialogue between our leaders, from the close cooperation between Russia and China in the UN Security Council, in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In this connection the minister specially pointed out the importance of cooperation between our countries for strengthening regional stability in the heart of Asia - the SCO region.