As the capital city, Beijing makes full use of its advantages on  foreign affairs to facilitate the resumption of work and production. On August 3, the Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and Beijing Investment Promotion Service Center held an online event together with the municipal government of St Petersburg, Russia, to promote economic, trade and investment projects. Fifteen central and municipal SOEs, including The First Company of China Construction Eighth Engineering Division, Beijing Urban Construction Group, Beijing Capital Group and Beijing Tourism Group, and six private enterprises, including Topspring and Phoenix, were invited to attend the event.

The online event 

Markov, St Petersburg Mayor's special representative on foreign relations and investment project implementation, said that China was the largest trade partner of Russia and the largest source of tourists for St Petersburg. The city attached great importance to mutually-beneficial cooperation with China. As the leaders of both countries announced 2020 and 2021 the Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation, he expected more contribution, under this framework, from the two cities to local-level economic, trade, scientific, technological and tourism cooperation. He introduced St Petersburg's preferential policies on improving business environment and attracting foreign investment, and encouraged enterprises from Beijing to participate in projects such as St Petersburg Oriental Martial Arts Center, Gorskaya Complex, theme park and zoo reconstruction. St Petersburg was ready to provide support in terms of human resources, services and facilities.

Projects promoted by St Petersburg

The representative from the Municipal Foreign Affairs Office pointed out that the regular exchanges between Beijing and St Petersburg have been productive in recent years. Since 2016, the two cities have successfully held three working group meetings, and boosted bilateral cooperation and exchanges in economy, trade and culture. Beijing encouraged enterprises to invest in St Petersburg, and hoped that St Petersburg could facilitate the lawful operation of these enterprises. Meanwhile, Beijing looked forward to the investment by enterprises from St Petersburg and other localities of Russia. Beijing would explore more application scenarios of 5G, artificial intelligence and industrial internet and foster new business forms and models. The two cities can seek more cooperation opportunities and promote two-way investment based on each other's advantages and demands.

Participating enterprises showed great interest in the projects promoted by St Petersburg, and asked for details about source of funds, terms of concession right, land properties and legal services in the Q & A session.

Additional Information

St Petersburg is a sister city of Beijing. Since the cooperation agreement was signed in 2009, cooperation between the two sides has borne plentiful fruits. This online promotion event aims to support Beijing enterprises in taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative, exploring market opportunities in St Petersburg and other localities of Russia and increasing two-way investment.

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