China, being the world’s leading economy, is already today Russia’s largest trading partner. Complementarity of the countries’ economies, the common border, large-scale transport projects, cooperation in key sectors, participation in BRICS and SCO — these and other factors serve as major drivers for all existing and new bilateral initiatives. The potential of these relationships is to a large extent determined by their content and current trends.

In the first half of the year, global trade improved slightly, thanks to growth in Asia and the United States, while Europe lagged behind. Expectations for the second half of the year suggest that there will be no significant changes.