China and Russia have pledged to expand bilateral trade of
machinery and electronic products, especially imports of
Russian-made equipment.
Trade in the sector has grown by an average 52.8 percent
annually for the past eight years. In the first 10 months, trade
between the two countries hit $8.34 billion, accounting for 21
percent of the total.
"That percentage is too low. There is plenty of scope to develop
(bilateral trade), since the two nations complement each other in
this sector," said Zhang Yujing, executive vice-president of the
China Chamber of Commerce of Import and Export of Machinery and
Electronic Products.
Zhang said China's trade surplus in the sector is large. In the
first 10 months, China exported $8.1 billion worth of machinery and
electronic products to Russia, while imports stood at just $240
million.
"The competitiveness of Russian products is still weak compared
with made-in-China products or those from the United States and
Western Europe - in terms of brand image, after-sales service,
product variety and Russia's export policies," Zhang said.
Alexander Shokhin, president of the Russian Union of
Industrialists, listed the aerospace, aircraft, energy equipment,
shipbuilding, telecommunications, electronics and hi-tech
industries as areas where Russia could increase its exports to
China.
He said Russian companies lacked capital in the past when
bidding for Chinese projects. "Now some Russian banks have started
to provide solid support to international projects."
Shokhin said collaboration between the two countries would go
beyond bilateral trade to include joint production and technology
exchange.
(China Daily December 12, 2007)
