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.

The potential for trade between two of the world’s most important economic areas — Asia and Europe — looks set to grow alongside rising global trade volumes, even in the face of considerable headwinds including the economic fallout of ongoing geopolitical tensions.