On August 25, Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan and Russian Minster of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov held the 23rd meeting of the Sub-Committee for China-Russia Economic and Trade Cooperation by video conference. Both sides exchanged views and reached consensus on such issues as cooperation in pandemic response and work resumption, bilateral trade and investment promotion, and multilateral and regional cooperation.

Zhong Shan said that under the personal leadership and direction of President Xi Jinping, China has made major strategic achievements in our response to COVID-19, and its economy has been stabilizing and turning for the better, Since the pandemic broke out, President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin have made four phone calls. Our two countries have assisted each other with supplies, which reflects the high quality of our comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era. Zhong Shan also noted that a major objective of this meeting was to implement the important consensus reached by our leaders to pursue stable, high-quality, and sustainable bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Zhong Shan noted that the two sides should further deepen cooperation on disease prevention and control and facilitate swift recovery of work and production in all sectors; expand bilateral trade and bring forward the formulation of the Roadmap for High Quality Growth of Trade in Goods and Services between China and Russia Through 2024, promote cross-board e-commerce, trade in services and other new business models; increase two-way investment and major projects and make local-level cooperation broader and deeper; deepen cooperation on soybeans along the whole industrial chain, encourage key provinces and oblasts to partner with each other, and set up the China-Russia soybean industry alliance; strengthen multilateral and regional cooperation, support and safeguard multilateral trading system and strive to build an open world economy.

Reshetnikov agreed with Chinese proposals and said that since the outbreak of the pandemic, China and Russia have supported each other in the response to COVID-19 and scaled new heights in bilateral cooperation. Russia is willing to export still more agricultural products to China, welcome Chinese businesses to the special economic zones and advanced development territories in Russia and step up third market cooperation with China on energy, infrastructure and other areas. Russia is ready to participate in the 3rd China International Import Expo and work together with China to make the 7th China-Russia Expo in Russia next year a success.

After the meeting, the two sides signed a minute. Representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the General Administration of Customs, the State Administration for Market Regulation, Chinese Embassy to Russia and relevant departments of Russia attended the meeting.