Russia-China trade had flourished and would soon reach 100 billion U.S. dollars, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO summit.

"Russia and China maintain a large trade turnover. Last year, we reached a record 83.5 billion dollars. I guess trade with China will soon approach the 100-billion-dollar mark," Putin told participants of the top-level gathering.

Russia-China trade grew 42 percent last year and increased by almost 14 percent in the first half of 2012, according to him.

Aside from China, Russian trade amounted to more than 50 billion dollars with Germany and 34 billion dollars with the United States, Putin said.

During a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao Friday on the sidelines of the APEC summit, Putin said Russia-China relations had reached a very high level thanks to the personal contribution of Hu, who would be invited to be the first speaker at the APEC leaders' meeting.

The two countries are following a blueprint that aims to lift bilateral trade to 100 billion dollars in 2015 and 200 billion dollars in 2020.

In the first seven months of this year, bilateral trade stood at 50.9 billion dollars, up 17.7 percent year-on-year.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)