Regional cooperation boosts high-level development of China-Russia relations
By Wu
Yan, Qu Pei, People’s Daily
Regional
cooperation is always considered an important driver and a new growth point for
China-Russia relations. From investment and trade to education and culture, and
from government affairs to entrepreneurs and students exchanges, the two
countries enjoy increasingly diversified forms of regional cooperation, and are
gradually expanding the fields of cooperation,.
The
senior officials and local governments of both China and Russia are seeking
better ways to handle the convergence of their strategies and working to expand
bilateral regional cooperation as the two countries have respectively rolled
out their development strategies such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Yangtze
Economic Belt Initiative, as well as Russia’s national revitalization and
regional development plans.
Cheboksary,
capital of the Chuvash Republic, a federal subject of Russia, with a population
of fewer than 500,000, located at the right bank of the Volga River’s middle
reaches. Hustle and bustle was brought to the city these days after the arrival
of a Chinese delegation comprising of over a hundred representatives.
The Chinese delegation was in
Cheboksary for the third
meeting of the Council of Cooperation between the upper and middle reaches of
the Yangtze River and the Volga Federal District (Yangtze-Volga) that kicked
off on May 23.
Representatives
from relevant Chinese ministries, deputies from six Chinese provinces and
municipality including Chongqing, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui and Jiangxi, as
well as presidents of 32 Chinese universities joined their counterparts in 14
subjects along the Volga Federal District of Russia to renew friendship and
discuss future cooperation and development.
The
above-mentioned 6 Chinese provinces and municipality, all located at the upper
and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, enjoy rapid economic development,
abundant capital, and huge market potential.
Similarly,
the 14 federal subjects of the 1.038 million-square kilometer Volga Federal
District along the Volga River, are also very competitive in Russia.
A
historical opportunity of cooperation between the two regions was created in
May 2013 when China and Russia inked the Protocol on Cooperation
between the Upper and Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River and the Volga Federal
District, an agreement boosting Yangtze-Volga
cooperation at national level.
Over the past six years, Yangtze-Volga cooperation has witnessed
improvement both in scale and quality.
According to the Council of Yangtze-Volga Cooperation, the trade
volume of the above-mentioned Chinese provinces and municipality with Russia stood
at nearly $4.9 billion in 2018 alone, up 30 percent. The speed outran the
growth of the general trade between the two countries. Some provinces even
witnessed growths of over 80 percent.
At the meeting, both parties
gave credit to the role of the cooperation mechanism in promoting exchanges
between the two regions, noting it serves as a successful example for China-Russia
regional cooperation.
They hope the two countries
to start anew from this mechanism, and guide bilateral regional cooperation
onto a track of faster speed and higher quality.
Thanks
to the accelerated regional cooperation and improved business environment, more
and more enterprises from the six Chinese provinces and municipality are
investing along the Volga River.
A wood
processing plant in Perm invested by Jiangxi Province was successfully put into
operation, marking the first major investment project implemented in the two
regions. A glass fiber production line in the Republic of Tatarstan with
investment from Chongqing, and a cement plant in Ulyanovsk invested by Anhui,
are also under construction as scheduled.
At
present, China-Russia regional cooperation enjoys strong momentum. According to
Igor Komarov, Russia’s Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Volga Federal
District, the district is working on over 20 draft agreements, hoping to
continue cooperation with China in economy and trade.
Many
Chinese grew up listening to the Russian song of Moscow Nights and reading the
novel How the Steel Was Tempered, said Li Yanrong, Chinese Chair of the
Yangtze-Volga University Alliance and President of Sichuan University, explaining
the special and close bond between China and Russia.
The
Yangtze-Volga regions boast solid educational foundation and rich cultures. There
are 1.5 million students in the two regions.
In June
2017, under the approval of the Chinese and Russian foreign ministries, the
Yangtze-Volga University Alliance was jointly initiated by China’s Sichuan
University and Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University. The
alliance has been joined by 32 Chinese universities and 50 Russian universities.
A series
of cooperation in education, science and technology, and culture to promote people-to-people
and cultural exchanges have been conducted by the alliance in the past two
years, such as a college student video contest to promote cultural
communication which was attended by 32 universities from both sides, as well as
the establishment of a China-Russia university think tank alliance and the
launch of its first forum.
The 14 federal
subjects of Russia reached a deal with Hun to send their undergraduates therefor
study. Besides, Sichuan universities also signed 23 cooperation agreements with
17 universities in the Volga Federal District on international courses and the exchange
of students and teachers.
Both
China and Russia hope that the university alliance can become a high-end think
tank that promotes bilateral relations and the cooperation between the two
regions, and become an open international platform that gathers innovative and advantageous
resources.
The two
sides also vowed to build the alliance into a cradle for training and
developing high-end talents and a hub for young entrepreneurs from both
countries.
Regional cooperation boosts high-level development of China-Russia relations
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