With the deepening of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation, the trade volume between the two countries has been growing year by year,
reaching a record $12 billion in 2002. In the first quarter of this year, bilateral trade increased by 30 percent compared with the same period last year. While people are happy about this, they also note that low value-added products are still the fastest-growing items in Sino-Russian trade. Further expanding the scale of trade, especially by increasing the share of high-tech, electromechanical products
and other high-value-added commodities to improve the structure of trade has become the economic circles in China and Russia *** with
concerned about the issue. A few days ago, the reporter interviewed the vice chairman of the Union of Industrial Entrepreneurs of the Russian Federation, Mr. Bauer.
Mr. Titov, Vice President of the Union of Industrial Entrepreneurs of the Russian Federation.
Mr. Titov, a graduate of the Moscow Institute of International Relations, has been working in the economic field for many years, but still maintains
a keen insight into international affairs. He began by giving his general views on the Russia-China strategic partnership.
Titov said we are great neighbors, the two countries are complementary in many ways, and consolidating and developing bilateral
relationships is the only right choice.
China has been developing rapidly through reform and opening up for more than 20 years, and every
visit to China is marked by new changes. The high rate of economic growth demonstrates the continuity of China's policy of accelerated development, and the wisdom of China's leaders and their high level of responsibility to their people are a source of sincere admiration.
Russia's imports from China have always been dominated by light industrial products, food and chemicals. In order to expand technical exchanges between the two
countries and increase the share of machinery and equipment in bilateral trade, the Federation of Industrial Entrepreneurs of the Russian Federation
formed a leasing company specializing in the import of machinery and equipment from China. Out of the importance of Russia-China trade
and confidence in the prospects of cooperation between the two countries, Vice President Titov personally took over the presidency of this company.
Speaking about his views on Chinese machinery and equipment, Titov pointed out that China has attracted a lot of investment from developed Western countries thanks to its macroeconomic policies and constantly
improving infrastructure. China is now able to produce
competitive machinery and equipment, most of which have production licenses from leading Western companies and
have met international certification standards. These machinery and equipment are of high quality, good performance and relatively inexpensive, which is just
enough to meet the needs of the Russian market. However, to enter the Russian market, Chinese machinery and equipment must
compete fiercely with European and U.S. companies. The advantage of the traditional European and American suppliers lies not only in the reputation they have built up over the years, but also in the large number of representative offices, agents and follow-up service systems they have.
Our mission is to work with our Chinese partners to break the monopoly of Western companies in the Russian market.
Titov said that as a first step, they are introducing Chinese machinery and equipment in the form of leasing to Russia in various fields such as road
construction, telecommunication, mining, petrochemicals, food processing, packaging, transportation, agriculture, printing, and medical care
. At present, Russian enterprises have a heavy tax burden and it is difficult to obtain medium- and long-term loans
from banks. Under these circumstances, most small and medium-sized enterprises cannot afford to upgrade their equipment, and using Chinese machinery
mechanical equipment in the form of leasing will help them solve their urgent needs. Over the past few months, a number of companies have already shown strong interest in using Chinese machinery
equipment. Speaking of the difficulties he is currently facing, Titov believes that it is particularly important to change the perception of Russian industrial
entrepreneurs of Chinese machinery and equipment. On the one hand, some people's vision can not keep up with the times
change, do not believe that China can make high-quality machinery and equipment. On the other hand, some years ago there were
many low-quality Chinese consumer goods on the Russian market, which adversely affected the reputation of Chinese goods. In addition,
Most Russian companies have limited capacity to pay, so the Russian and Chinese partners should be realistic and take a more flexible approach to payment methods
and other issues.
Titov pointed out that leasing is just one form of promoting Chinese machinery and equipment into the Russian market. In order to optimize the structure of trade between Russia and China and increase the share of high-tech products, the Union of Industrial Entrepreneurs of the Russian Federation is also planning
to work with Chinese partners on joint ventures, exchange of technology, and the development of third-country markets. Titov concluded by sincerely
saying, "If Russia and China are compared to two big ships riding the wind and waves, we should form a
fleet and always move forward side by side. The ever-improving economic and trade cooperation will make the strategic collaborative partnership
between our two countries even stronger."