Rustam Minnikhanov takes part in a narrow format meeting of heads of delegations of the Yangtze-Volga Council

On 21 May the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov took part in a narrow format meeting of heads of delegations to the events of the V meeting of the Interregional Yangtze-Volga Cooperation Council held in the Kazan City Hall.

Opening the meeting, the Russian Presidential Envoy in the Volga region Igor Komarov cordially welcomed the Deputy Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Zhang Guoqing, who is the Chairman of the Chinese part of the Yangtze-Volga Cooperation Council and other members of delegations.

“I am happy to meet you again and hope that your visit is informative and successful. Tatarstan with its famous hospitality and experience of holding large international events has done everything for the stay of the Chinese delegation in Kazan to be comfortable, “he said.

“I know that your busy agenda started already in Moscow and today we together will hold the V meeting of the Interregional Yangtze-Volga Cooperation Council with participation of regions which are located in the depth of national territories and do not have common borders. This makes our cooperation mechanism unique,” Igor Komarov emphasized.

He also stated that regions are interested in strengthening of the economic interaction and the interest of commercial organizations as well as participation in forums, exhibitions and business-missions held in China and Russia proves this.

“For entities of the Volga federal region China is the key trade partner and has a leading position in the foreign trade turnover which grew by 6.9 per cent in 2024 compared to the previous year,” Igor Komarov concluded.

In his turn Mister Zhang Guoqing said that he is happy to be at the meeting of the Yangtze-Volga Cooperation Council. “It is my first visit to the Volga federal district. Yesterday we landed with my colleagues in Kazan and immediately felt the hustle and bustle of this city having thousand year history. I would like to thank Russian colleagues for such a good organization,” he stated.

“During the last years Russia-China relations of comprehensive partnership are successfully developing and going ahead under the leadership of our states. In the beginning of this month the Chairman of China Xi Jinping had a successful visit to Russia and took part in solemn events dedicated to celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War (WWII). He and President Putin had a substantial exchange of opinions considering the development of bilateral relations, protection of outcomes of the WWII and the international justice and definition of the correct direction of the global governance. They have reached new broad agreements and our task is to facilitate high quality cooperation of the Yangtze-Volga regions base on agreements reached at the highest level. We have a huge potential,” Mister Zhang Guoqing concluded.