Conference held in Chengdu to boost China-Russia cooperation

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Mikhail Babich, a Russian presidential representative, co-chaired a conference on cooperation between regions along the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China and the Volga Federal District in Russia, on Friday in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.

China and Russia launched this cooperative mechanism between the two regions in 2013, aiming to deepen bilateral cooperation.

During the conference, local leaders from both sides introduced potential investment plans and cooperation opportunities.

Yang said the conference is an important step to implement the outcomes of the two recent meetings between President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Ufa. He hopes the two sides will make good use of the cooperative mechanism and continue to deepen bilateral cooperation.

Babich said the two regions are highly complementary in such areas as automobile manufacturing, chemical engineering and agriculture, and Russia is willing to work together with China to make progress and boost common development.

Local governments from both regions signed agreements after the conference, to cooperate further in fields including economics and trade, technology and the humanities.

More than 10 companies and organizations from China's Sichuan, Hunan, Anhui, Hubei provinces and Chongqing municipality signed agreements with their Russian counterparts to cooperate in fields including agriculture, chemical engineering, engineering machinery and medical treatment.