St. Petersburg to promote Sino-Russian economic ties: vice mayor

The northwestern Russian city of St. Petersburg wants to play an active role in promoting Sino- Russian economic and trade cooperation, said Viktor Labko, vice mayor of the city, at the World Mayors Forum Friday in Beijing.

Statistics show that the Sino-Russian bilateral trade volume exceeded 20 billion US dollars in 2004, with the trade volume between St. Petersburg and China accounting for more than 500 million US dollars.

"St. Petersburg and China still enjoy a great potential in the cooperation with each other," he said, noting that the two sides are making joint efforts to expand the fields and means for cooperation.

"We hope that our trade volume with China will continue growing, " Labko said.

The current cooperation between China and St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia with a history of more than 300 years, covers mainly such fields as mechanical manufacture, shipbuilding, science, technology, tourism and education. There are approximately 200 companies with Chinese investment in the city.

Labko said Russia and China have deepened their cooperation over recent years in the spheres of economy, technology and investment. The two sides just witnessed a ground-breaking ceremony Thursday in St. Petersburg for the Baltic Pearl residential complex, the largest investment project in Russia led by a Chinese company in Shanghai.

According to a number of agreements signed by Mayor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matviyenko during his visit to Shanghai in May this year, China would provide funds from 3 billion US dollars to 4.5 billion US dollars to St. Petersburg for its construction of a high-tech park, and the total investment from China was expected to reach 12 billion US dollars in St. Petersburg before 2020.

Source: Xinhua