"I remember that during last year's conference I expressed hope for our trade and economic cooperation to get a bigger boost in its development, and this was achieved due to our common efforts. In particular, the first three months of this year have seen a significant rise of Russian-Chinese bilateral trade. Our economies are characterized by a high level of mutual complementarity. I am also sure that bilateral trade turnover targets which we had set will be reached," Li said during his annual press conference after the closing of the 10-day National People's Congress session.
The premier noted the adverse impact that stagnating global growth as well as the slump in energy and commodity prices has had on trade between the two countries, adding that stable Russian-Chinese relations are beneficial for the region as well as the world as a whole.
In 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russian and China planned to reach the target of $200 billion in annual trade by 2020. The Russian government later toned the ambition down but stressed that the target would not be given up.
