Russia-China trade turnover saw 13-fold growth over past 20 years – Lavrov

The volume of trade between Russia and China amounted to $104 billion at the end of last year and continues to grow, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“The treaty signed by Russia and China in 2001 plays a significant role in accelerating trade and economic cooperation. We have something to show to the public. Over the past 20 years, mutual trade has increased 13 times from $8 billion to $104 billion by the end of 2020,” Lavrov said on Tuesday in a video message to the participants of the 6th International Conference ‘Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era’.

The foreign minister added that investment cooperation between the two nations continues on 70 projects worth over $120 billion.

Despite the economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, trade between Russia and China still exceeded the targeted $100 billion last year, but was down almost 3% compared to 2019.

The two countries want to double the volume of trade to $200 billion. The target level could still be reached by 2024, the head of the Russian Export Center, Veronika Nikishina, earlier told TASS.