Tatarstan-Heilongjiang Business Forum held in Harbin

On June 17, immediately on his arrival in the People’s Republic of China, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov had a meeting with Governor of Heilongjiang Province Wang Wentao.

The Russian Consul General in Shenyang Sergey Chernenko, members of Tatarstan Government and Heilongjiang Province also took part in the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, Minnikhanov said that Wentao visited Tatarstan last summer. During the last visit, they discussed the state and future prospects of cooperation between the regions under Russian-Chinese cooperation. During the visit to Tatarstan, the Agreement on cooperation between the republic and Heilongjiang Province was signed. One year ago, working groups of the regions started to develop a joint Road Map for its implementation, which was later signed during the Tatarstan-Heilongjiang Business Forum.

“We value the current high level of relations with China and pay great attention to expanding our comprehensive relations aimed at strengthening Russian-Chinese friendship and cooperation. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attach great importance to cooperation at the regional level. The current and next years are declared the Years of Interregional Cooperation between Russia and China. This is a good opportunity to develop relations between regions and municipalities. Tatarstan is actively cooperating with Chinese partners. We have a constant exchange of delegations. I visit China several times a year. Last year I visited 6 provinces: Zhejiang, Fujian, Shanghai, Shandong, Tianjin, Guangdong. Our republic has signed 7 agreements with Chinese provinces and 14 agreements between municipalities. We cooperate with the provinces of Shandong, Sichuan, Hunan, Anhui, Zhejiang, Chongqing and, of course, Heilongjiang,” Minnikhanov said.

During the meeting, Wentao said that Heilongjiang Province is interested in launching direct flights between Kazan and Harbin. Currently, negotiations with the airlines of China are underway. Tatarstan President supported the initiative of the Chinese side: “If we are able to solve this problem, it will increase and bring our relations to a new level”.

Then, Minnikhanov and Wentao took part in the Tatarstan - Heilongjiang Business Forum. The forum opened with video broadcasting about Heilongjiang Province and the tourism and investment potential of Tatarstan. The leaders of the two regions welcomed the forum participants.

Minnikhanov thanked the participants for their interest in Tatarstan and expressed confidence that during the visit, business community will open new areas for interaction and agree on joint projects. “Today we have a good opportunity to discuss the state and prospects of development of Tatarstan-Chinese relations aimed at strengthening contacts between Russia and China. Tatarstan always attaches great importance to the development of cooperation with China under the relations between the two states. The governments and business circles of our countries are making efforts to expand cooperation in various spheres,” he said and added that the trade turnover between Tatarstan and China amounted to 630 million US dollars last year and the parties have the potential for its growth.

At the Forum, Head of Tatarstan Investment Development Agency Taliya Minullina made a presentation of the trade, economic and investment potential of the republic and answered questions from Chinese guests. The new trade and economic representative of Tatarstan in China Yevgeny Gorshkov introduced the opportunities of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone as one of the venues for attracting Chinese investment. Director General of the Haier Company in Russia Sun Zhenghua briefed about his work experience in Tatarstan and caused considerable interest among the Chinese participants of the forum.