Sino-Russian investment cooperation accelerates

BEIJING - China's non-financial direct investment to Russia stood at $656 million in 2012, up 116.2 percent year on year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Tuesday.

China's non-financial direct investment to Russia hit $4.42 billion by the end of 2012, marking an average growth rate of more than 40 percent in the past 10 years, MOC spokesman Shen Danyang said.

Trade between China and Russia stood at a record-high $88.16 billion in 2012, up 11.2 percent year on year, and China has been Russia's biggest trade partner for three years running, Shen said.

Given such growth rates, targets proposed by the two countries' leaders of having $100 billion in trade in 2015 and $200 billion of trade in 2020, are likely to be met, Shen said.

The two countries are making good progress on energy, technology and transportation cooperation, which has underpinned the sustainable growth of the bilateral economic partnership, Shen said.

The two countries are making news progress in financial cooperation, as well, Shen said.