Russia accounts for 83 pct of deals struck at Harbin fair

BEIJING, June 19 (Itar-Tass) - Russia is in the lead by the number of trade agreements concluded with China at the 19th Harbin international trade and economic fair that ended here on Thursday, the organising committee of the forum has announced.
During the fair that has been running since June 14, Chinese and
Russian entrepreneurs signed agreements to the tune of $1,350 million,
which accounts for 83 percent of the aggregate amount of deals concluded by China with foreign countries.
The agreements signed concern such areas as agriculture, housing construction, prospecting for oil and gas, logging, the automobile industry, and textile production.
This time Russia's participation has been most marked, tangible and fruitful in the entire history of the holding of China's major fair which is oriented to Northeast Asian countries, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Eastern Europe.
This year about 100 companies from the Russian Federation officially registered their participation in the Russian Pavilion.
The business programme of the fair, apart from the traditional presentations of the economic potential of individual regions of Russia, included a Russo-Chinese symposium on cooperation in the field of labour resources.
A ceremony was also held to introduce Russia's special economic zones.
There had been no such presentations in previous years. June 16 was Russia Day at the fair. It became a kind of showcase of the forum aimed primarily at looking for ways to expand bilateral Russo-Chinese trade and economic cooperation.
The Ministry of Trade of the People's Republic of China, the All-China Committee on the Promotion of International Trade, the government of Heilongjiang Province, and other Chinese agencies and institutions traditionally act as organisers of the fair.
Beginning from last year, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation also became the forum's partner.