Heilongjiang: Hub for trade with Russia

Heilongjiang strives to be the big channel for economic and trade cooperation to Russia by providing better services for domestic enterprises to expand in the Russian market.

The province has constructed a convenient transport system of rail, highways, waterways, aviation and pipelines.

Harbin Taiping International Airport is the gateway airport to Russian's Far East region, with its number of routes to Russia ranking second only to Capital International Airport in Beijing.

Heilongjiang has three winter routes at Tongjiang, Raohe and Heihe that provide customs clearance in all four seasons.

It continues to develop the big transport channel from Harbin to Mudanjiang and Vladivostok using the Heilong, Songhua and Wusuli rivers to the Amur River and Nikolayevsk port.

The Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair is China's largest trade fair focused on Russia and one of three fairs supported by the Russian Federation government.

In the past five years, some 25,800 Russian merchants and customers have participated in the fair, while 73 of Russia's 83 provinces organized delegations to the 23rd Harbin fair last year.

Heilongjiang has also built Chinese commodities and trade centers in Moscow and Ekaterinburg that provide a significant cooperation platform for both Chinese and Russian enterprises.

We have strong confidence in the positive prospects for Heilongjiang's trade with Russia, a country whose territory accounts for one-eighth of the world's land. It is not only rich in natural resources, but also has strong industrial strength and economic development potential.

In particular the country has great infrastructure investment demand and the potential for the improved livelihood of its people, which provide unparalleled opportunities. In addition, Russia's accession to the WTO last year will drive the country to significant economic growth as it did in China.

In the next step, Heilongjiang will grasp the opportunities and take Sino-Russian trade to heights.

The provincial government will continue to support the downstream processing sector and enhance the logistics system.

Relying on Russia's strong advantages in resources and market demand in Northeast Asia, we will foster a solid industrial foundation and competitive resource- and capital-intensive industries.

We will place an emphasis on timber processing, metallurgy, oil chemistry, coal oil, agricultural processing, construction materials, household goods, logistics, autos, agricultural machinery, excavation and power station equipment.

Second, Heilongjiang will innovate new trade cooperation models to drive growth both in cargo and service trades.

China has low financing costs, while Russia enjoys low energy and resource prices. Heilongjiang's finance sector can offer more projects for Russia's energy and resource projects and could also be suited to the power, agriculture, mining and forestry sectors.

Third, we will boost Sino-Russian e-commerce. Online shopping has thrived in China and it could be promoted to more consumers both in Russia and China. We should promote more B2B, B2C and C2C models to Russian businesses.

The focus of the next step is to integrate the logistics, e-settlement and quality supervision systems and optimize the local currency settlement system. More talent who have mastered e-commerce, trade and the Russian language are expected to be developed in Heilongjiang.

Fourth, we will launch more activities amid Russia's China Tourism Year this year. We will enhance the promotion to more agencies, expand more direct airline routes and develop border river and cross-country tours.

We expect to attract more tourists in South China to tour Russia and attract more Russian tourists to more provinces in China.

Fifth, we will bridge more enterprises in the two countries. In the 1950s, many experts came to China, and brought in a batch of key projects, which still take the lead in China in terms of their scale and competitiveness. We will expand trade among more competitive enterprises.

Heilongjiang will play vigorous role as a bridgehead and hub and make greater contribution to bilateral trade cooperation.