Sany turns to Russia for more construction deals

Machinery company signs strategic pact for several infrastructure projects in Kostroma city

Industrial machines maker Sany Group Co Ltd has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with officials in the Russian city of Kostroma, on a series of joint-venture infrastructure projects.

The arrangement will allow Sany, which is China's largest heavy machinery manufacturer, to become involved in the construction of ring roads, a new bridge across the Volga River, and social housing in the historical city, which is part of the Golden Ring of Russian towns at the confluence of the Volga and Kostroma rivers in the west of the country.

Xiang Wenbo, Sany's president, called the agreement a new chapter in China-Russia cooperation, which will help speed up the overseas activities of many more Chinese companies.

"Previously we focused only on equipment sales, but now Sany is expanding from engineering machinery to other fields, including housing, wind power and mineral products," he said.

Sergey Sitnikov, the governor of the Kostroma region, met with Dai Qinghua, head of Sany's Fast Living Housing Home Express, an offshoot which researches, designs and builds on industrial residences, and officials from Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group Co Ltd on Thursday, to finalize details of the cooperation.

Sang Baichuan, director of the Institute of International Business at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the move marked a significant development in large-scale industrial cooperation between the countries, especially for Chinese companies likely to work extensively on new infrastructure projects along the Belt and Road Initiative trade routes.

"Along with Poland, Saudi Arabia, the Slovak Republic and Malaysia, Russia is likely to see the biggest amount of investment along the route," he said.

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, is a trade and infrastructure network that includes the Silk Road Economic Belt through Central Asia to the Black Sea, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road from the South China Sea, through the Strait of Malacca, across the Indian Ocean to the eastern Mediterranean via the Red Sea.

"The initiative is based on mutual infrastructure, trade or other economic benefits for the countries involved, and comes at a crucial time, when the global economy is still unstable," said Sang.