Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko and Vice-Premier of the State Council of China He Lifeng co-chaired the 27^th session of the Russia-China commission on preparing for regular prime minister meetings in Beijing. They discussed the agenda of the 28^th regular meeting of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Premier of the State Council of China Li Qiang. The agenda is focused on digital and high technology.

Dmitry Chernyshenko thanked his Chinese counterpart for the warm reception of the Russian delegation in Beijing and noted that today relations between Russia and China have reached their highest level in history.

“The strengthening of our comprehensive, equitable and trust-based partnership and strategic interaction with friendly China is a Russian foreign policy priority. I must emphasise that our countries are dynamically developing their relations. This year, Russian-Chinese trade increased by 26.7 percent. Over the first 11 months of this year, it has exceeded $201 billion. According to the Main Customs Department of China, our trade has already reached $218 billion. This is already more than the $200 billion set for us by President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of China Xi Jinping. Thus, Russia is becoming China’s fourth largest trade partner, and we can say with confidence that if we maintain this pace, we can well reach the $200 billion milestone,” emphasised Mr Chernyshenko.

“The leaders of our countries have set many goals in developing cooperation and our commission is playing a key role in this. Our goal is to prepare for the 28^th prime minister meeting. Russia and China are productively developing their cooperation despite the external challenges. Now we must raise it to an even higher level,” said Mr He Lifeng. He also noted the unprecedented level of trade, the appearance of new types of products from the agro-industrial sector in the Chinese market and the steady growth of oil, gas and raw materials imports from Russia. “For the first time, we have agreed on Russian pork exports to China, which will start next year. In addition, we are getting the final approvals for wheat and barley, rye flour, semolina wheat, animal feed and dairy product exports to China.