On February 8, the 3rd regular meeting of the RAUIE Expert Council was held online. Leading theoretical and practical experts on Russian-Chinese cooperation took part in the dialogue.
At the end of 2020, we saw a decrease in trade turnover between Russia and China by 2.9%. At the same time, over the past 10 years, trade has grown by an average of 2.6%, Russian exports by 5%, and Chinese imports by only 0.5% per year. The meeting of the expert council was intended to find new points of growth in trade and economic cooperation.
The President of the RAUIE, Vitaly Mankevich, noted the importance of finding new drivers for non-resource non-energy exports development, among which he attributed the creation of a Russian national system for encouraging foreign investment, strengthening localization in Asian countries, creating sales offices in the PRC and increasing the competence of Russian business to work with Asia through education.
Leonid Orlov, General Representative of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council in the EEU and the Baltic States, commented on the first place of Hong Kong in the rating as deserved, noting that it became possible due to the many exhibitions held in Hong Kong, in which Russians regularly participate, the attractiveness of Hong Kong for Russian investments and the high volume Chinese investments coming to Russia through Hong Kong. According to him, the cost of opening an office in Hong Kong may be lower than the figure indicated in the study, which makes Hong Kong "the most attractive location for Russian companies to open an office."
Yuri Volkov, Chairman of the RAUIE Expert Council, a deputy of the State Duma from the Trans-Baikal Territory, presented a new vision of the Expert Council format, which will now meet every 2 months to work out relevant recommendations to Russian and Asian authorities on the bilateral cooperation development.
The main event of the Meeting was the presentation and discussion of the study
“The Index of Prospects of Chinese Regions for Doing Business by Russian Companies”, conducted by the RAUIE analytical department. The leader of the rating is Hong Kong, thanks to the financial center status, a high standard of living and consumption, and a preferential tax regime. Also in the top 3 were Guangdong and Shanghai.
In the speeches, the experts focused not only on problems, but also on opportunities. For example, Alexei Maslov, head of the RAS Institute for Far East Studies, noted that China is a growth point not only for goods imports, but also for services. He also spoke about the favorable changes in the Asian economic space for Russian suppliers and businessmen, for example, laws stimulating the market, 15 new economic zones, the expansion of demand for goods and services in the Asian market, the simplification of the registration of foreign specialists, and much more.
At the end of the meeting, an opportunity was given to guests, experts and journalists to ask questions. Based on the results of the meeting, resolutions with recommendations will be prepared and sent to state authorities.
Obviously, new challenges await us in 2021, but there is confidence that the next meeting of the RAUIE Expert Council will help the authorities and business to adequately prepare for them.
