Turnover Between Russia's Far East, China Rises by $2.5 Billion in 2017

VLADIVOSTOK (Russia) (Sputnik) – The turnover between Russia’s Primorsky Territory and China increased by 14 percent or $2.5 billion over the first nine months of 2017, acting Governor of the Far Eastern region Andrei Tarasenko told Sputnik.

“Primarily, this year [2017] the economic cooperation between the Primorsky Territory and China has been marked by the growth in bilateral turnover. We summarized only the first nine months and see a 14-percent growth, which amounts to about $2.5 billion,” Tarasenko said.

He pointed out that the Chinese share in the bilateral turnover amounted to 52 percent adding that the Primorsky Territory was primarily exporting fish, sea food, petroleum products and wood to China.

According to the acting governor, some 200 enterprises with Chinese participation are currently working in the Primorsky Territory.

Tarasenko also praised the rising number of Chinese tourists visiting the Primorsky Territory.

“Since 2014, the number of Chinese citizens visiting the Primorsky Territory has been steadily growing. In 2015, 281,000 people visited the Primorsky Territory, in 2016 – 370,000. Within first eight months of 2017 more than 350,000 people from China had already visited [the region] … Concerning forecasts, according to our estimations the total number of Chinese citizens, who will visit the Primorsky Territory in 2018 will amount to 440,000-450,000,” he said.

The Far East is the biggest and the least populated Russian federal district. The Russian government is trying to develop the region by improving its infrastructure and intensifying cooperation with Asian nations such as China, Japan and South Korea.