Heilongjiang Province, a traditional industrial base in northeast China, and Hong Kong, an international commercial and financial center, are drawing up plans to jointly explore the Russian market.

A seminar on Heilongjiang/Hong Kong joint exploration of Russian market was held here Wednesday, showcasing over 100 investment projects in Russia.

Attending the seminar, Hong Kong Trade Development Council Assistant Executive Director Benjamin Chau said that Russia, bordering Heilongjiang Province, is a burgeoning market for Hong Kong companies.

The average income of Russian people has tripled over the past five years. Hong Kong's export to Russia in the first nine months of this year increased 55 percent over the same period of last year, Chau said.

A report of Hong Kong Trade Development Council showed that higher disposable income, coupled with a desire to improve living standards, has translated into stronger consumer demand for goods like fashion garments, household appliances and consumer electronics, which are among the major Hong Kong exports.

The recent liberalization in Russia's business and trade regimeis also favorable to Hong Kong suppliers. The Russian ruble has become a fully convertible currency for foreign trade, and Russianbuyers can buy foreign currencies freely to settle their import payments, the report said.

Chau said that the cooperation between Hong Kong and Heilongjiang will help Hong Kong companies find new channels to enter the Russian market.

Heilongjiang and Russia has a boundary of over 3,000 kilometerslong. The Siberia and Far East regions of Russia have rich forest and mineral resources. With the economic growth of Russia, its market demand for food, costume, shows, and machinery have increased sharply in recent years.

Zhang Zuoji, governor of Heilongjiang, said that the market of Russia is of great potential, and most of Russian commodities including costume, shoes, electric appliances and food depend on import.

Heilongjiang has a lot of advantages in exploring Russian market, such as convenient transport, mature cooperation system and Russian-speaking professionals who are familiar with Russia, said Zhang.

According to Russian officials, the regions bordering Heilongjiang are also studying how to take advantage of its neighborhood with China.

The bilateral trade between China and Russia is expected to exceed 60 trillion US dollars in 2010. And China's investment in Russia will surpass 12 billion US dollars in 2020.

Ye Xiaofeng, head of the Commercial Department of Heilongjiang,said that the key areas of Heilongjiang/Hong Kong joint exploration of Russian market include developing forest and mineral resources, agricultural and fishery cooperation, real estate and infrastructure construction, scientific and technological cooperation and processing industry cooperation.

A Hong Kong businessman attending the seminar said that many Hong Kong companies are interested in the cooperation with Heilongjiang to explore the Russian market.

He said that with the state preferential policies to rejuvenatethe old industrial base in northeast China, the region will becomea new economic engine after the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta, and will provide new business opportunities for Hong Kong.

Source: Xinhua