This year's China's International Industrial Fair has wrapped up in Shanghai, the 18th year for the event. With relations warming between China and Russia, this year's fair welcomed its first "featured guests," a team of 169 Russian delegates led by the country's Minister of Industry and Trade. The Russians reached three deals during the fair, leading to talks about how the two countries could work with one another to advance each other's manufacturing sectors. Xu Xinchen tells us more.
After years working with a Chinese company, Yulian Group, the Russian investment and industrial group Vi-Holding has invested billions in a Yulian subsidiary. The Russian company specializes in non-ferrous metals and mining and they believe that the Chinese market can help them grow.
Vice president of Vi-Holding group, Yalery Krasuov, said, "Overall we have invested into the Yulian project in Henan province for more than U.S.$3.4 billion. We believe in the market and we believe that newly advanced goods on the big ground of technological achievement would give us market advantages."
Vi-Holding is just one of the 30 Russian companies that attended this year' CIIF hoping to expand their business in China. But it has not been an easy journey for Chinese and Russian companies learning to work together. In fact, the trade volume between China and Russia plunged 28.9 percent to less than U.S.$70 billion US (USD 68 bln)last year.
International business chief of Seldon, Oleg Dannenberg, said, "Sometimes it was hard dealing with Russian companies. Frauds, yeah, the companies which opened a deal to make and then they close the businesses and ran away."
With improving regulatory systems in both countries, trades between the two picked up a little this year. In the first quarter of 2016, trade volume was up 3.6% from last year's first quarter figure to over U.S.$14 billion. China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology was optimistic about the trade prospects when he visited the Industrial Fair this week.
China minister of industry and information technology, Miao Wei, said, "We want to continue to focus on companies' roles in the market -- to allow more companies from China and Russia to work together on research and development, establishing rules and standards as well as trying new products. The two countries should enhance bilateral cooperation in order to find new growth in addition to the current industrial sectors."
Other deals reached during this year's fair emphasized innovative and advanced manufacturing. They include a deal between the China Robot Industry Alliance and the National Association of Robotics of Russia. The Russian minister of Industry and Trade said for the two nations should collaborate more on high-end manufacturing.
Russia minister of industry and trade, Denis Manturov, said, "China and Russia have been working on some new emerging industries, that include new materials, and aeronautical and space technologies. Regarding aeronautical and space technologies, two deals have been signed this year and we are still discussing another deal to produce a 30-ton airplane engine together."
Manturov said Russia hopes to triple last year's trade volume with China to some U.S.$200 billion in the near future.
