Bilateral investment projects kick off with Russia

Chinese investment group Tus-Holdings and the RussiaChina Investment Fund (RCIF) announced a number of major technology and innovation joint investment projects on Tuesday, with one of these worth more than 90 billion roubles ($1.28 billion).

According to a statement from the RCIF, the two groups, along with other international investors, will invest a total of $1.28 billion in building a technology park in former Tushino airfield, northwestern Moscow, which will include the largest-ever innovation park in the nation.

China and Russia have been increasing their economic relations amid the current China-US trade tensions.

Chinese direct investment in Russia soared 72 percent to reach $2.22 billion last year, while bilateral trade rose 20.8 percent to $84 billion.

Tus-Holdings and the RCIF are also looking at building a 70,000 square meter high-tech innovation park, which will see an investment of over $100 million. The park aims to attract leading high-tech companies from both China and Russia.

“Joint Russian-Chinese investment in venture projects is not only attractive from the point of view of profitability, but also promotes scientific and technical cooperation between Russia and China,” said Kirill Dmitriev, co-CEO of the RCIF.

In addition, a venture fund, the Russia-China Venture Fund, was established on Tuesday. It is expected to seek high-tech investment opportunities in both Russia and China.

Wang Jiwu, chairman of Tus-Holdings, noted that a dozen potential investment institutions and investors had expressed their willingness to participate in the future investments of the RCVF.

All these agreements were signed on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok, Russia. At the forum, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and China’s Alibaba Group also announced to form a new joint venture on e-commerce.