20 January 2021

The annual meeting of the Russian-Chinese Business Council in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation

The participants of the annual RCBC meeting discussed business cooperation opportunities in pandemic times. Business ombudsman of President of Russia, Chairman of the Russian-Chinese Committee for friendship, peace and development Boris Titov  hosted the event.

He remarked in his speech that despite the difficult times RCBC remains to be a reliable institute of cooperation between Russia and China, which actively participates in negotiating mutually beneficial contracts between our countries. Boris Titov expressed his hope that the Council will strive to reach pre-crisis sales turnover and business contacts amount.

The Chief Representative of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) in the Russian Federation Mr. Gao Qi read out a greeting from the Chairperson of CCPIT  Ms. Gao Yan.  She heartly welcomed the participants of the 7th meeting of RCBC and expressed her hope for the increase in trade turnover between Russia and China in 2021 upto 200 bln US dollars.

After that Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of PRC in Russia Mr. Zhang Hanhui greeted the members of RCBC. He noted that regardless the pandemic the two countries managed to keep mutually beneficial cooperation and stay resilient. Ambassador of China mentioned the trade turnover in 2020 which was 107,77 bln US dollars.  It was almost the same in pre-crisis year of 2018. According to Mr. Zhang Hanhui medical equipment import from China and agriculture goods from Russia have increased. The two parties have advanced in digital technology cooperation. He also stated that Chinese partners are ready to work on current tasks and are eager to boost our trade-economic relations.

Deputy minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Andrey Gruzdev participated in the meeting as well. He mentioned that Russian-Chinese trade-economic cooperation plays an important role. Andrey Gruzdev reported that Russian-Chinese business contacts and working cooperation is continuing despite the pandemic and other negative factors. Deputy minister expressed his hope that RCBC will continue its active and coordinated work to support members of the Council and their trade-economic projects.

Vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia Vladimir Padalko stated that there was an interesting experience in online communications during previous year.  Business circles have not just communicated online, but also held some important international events. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry has got some tangible results in this sphere.  In particular, an online presentation of Canton Fair was organized in Russia in 2020 with the help of colleagues from the Embassy of China in Russia. Business forums of SCO and BRICS were held in Russia in the frames of Russian chairmanship in these organizations with the help of colleagues from the Business Councils.  Vice-president of the Chamber reassured that when the borders are open the experience of online cooperation can be integrated in the traditional mechanisms of the trade-economic cooperation which could provide additional impulse for the development.

The Chairman of Chinese Business Association in Russia Mr. Zhou Litsun also greeted the participants of the meeting. He noted high productivity of the RCBC work. Almost all initiatives of Chinese businessmen received support both from the Business Council and from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The participants also discussed the candidates for the Supervisory council of RCBC and approved the provisions on the Supervisory council.

Chairman of the Board of RCBC Alexey Kalashnik reported on the work of RCBC in 2020. He mentioned that as a result of the epidemiological situation a number of joint events had to be postponed till next year. However the Business Council participated in a few Russian-Chinese intergovernmental panels actively providing its comments and suggestions. 

Alexey Kalashnik introduced the Plan of RCBC work for 2020, which was adopted unanimously.

The members of the meeting adopted the financial plan of RCBC for 2021 and the membership fees and entry fees amount for RCBC.

According to the recommendation of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of RCBC Gennadiy Timchenko the candidate Evgeny Markin was elected as a new Executive Director of RCBC. All participants of the meeting voted unanimously for the new candidate.