MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian state development bank VEB plans to provide around 3.5 trillion roubles ($42.74 billion) in funding for joint projects with Chinese businesses, VEB head Igor Shuvalov said on Thursday as the two countries’ leaders held talks in Moscow.
China is Russia’s biggest trading partner and increased trade between the two countries has thrown Moscow an economic lifeline at a time when it is navigating sweeping Western sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine.
China buys more Russian oil and gas than any other country and has increased exports to Russia, particularly of cars and other machinery.
At a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said coomprehensive cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in industry and technology was being consistently strengthened.
“We welcome the creation of production facilities and the transfer of Chinese industrial expertise to our country,” Putin said. “For our part, we intend to continue creating comfortable conditions for Chinese companies to operate in Russia.”
On the sidelines of the Putin-Xi meeting, Shuvalov said the 3.5 trillion roubles in funding was earmarked for projects in the gas, metallurgy, timber processing and shipbuilding industries.
($1 = 81.9000 roubles)
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, Alexander Marrow and Darya Korsunskaya;Editing by Andrew Osborn)
