A strong upward trend continues in Russia-China trade, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in an interview with Sputnik.
"Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, bilateral trade has maintained a strong upward trend, and this is why it has reached another record high," Zhang said.
The ambassador said that in 2022, business cooperation between Russia and China has reached a new level.
"In the first 11 months of this year, the total volume of Sino-Russian trade reached $172.41 billion, up 32% year-on-year, already surpassing last year's annual figure of $146.87 billion and undoubtedly set to reach a new record high," he said.
The volume of Chinese exports to Russia amounted to $67.34 billion, an increase of 13.4 percent, and China's imports from Russia amounted to $105.07 billion, an increase of 47.5 percent, Zhang said. He said that in 2022, China and Russia overcame a number of unfavorable factors in their trade and economic cooperation.
In particular, in February, the parties signed a road map for the high-quality development of Sino-Russian trade in goods and services, which outlines the path to achieve the set goals in bilateral trade.
The leaders of Russia and China earlier set the goal to double bilateral trade, bringing it from $100 billion a year to $200 billion by 2024. The $100 billion mark was reached in 2018.
After talks between the two countries' leaders in Beijing on February 4, Chinese President Xi Jinping outlined a new goal to increase Russia-China trade to $250 billion a year.
Russia, China Sign Agreement on Joint Lunar Exploration: Roscosmos Head
An intergovernmental agreement between Russia and China on the creation of the international scientific lunar station has already been signed, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, said on Wednesday.
"We will move on to the next phase, which is the construction of a future lunar base, possibly, and most likely, in close contact with our Chinese partners. As you know, a corresponding memorandum was signed in 2021, and just recently an agreement was signed with the Chinese side on the joint work in this area," Borisov said.
Russia and China signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the creation of the International Lunar Science Station (ILSS) in March 2021. In December of this year, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that an intergovernmental agreement between Russia and China on the creation of the International Lunar Science Station was prepared for signing.
Japan's Lawmaker Calls on US to Recognize Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki a Mistake
Muneo Suzuki, a member of Japan's upper house and the chair of the New Party Daichi, on Wednesday called on the United States to honestly declare that the atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II were a mistake.
"Even though 77 years have passed since the end of the war, the US, which dropped the atomic bombs, has never apologized or asked for forgiveness. It is the US that speaks loudly of 'democracy, human rights, and freedom' about the actions of other countries. So, why not honestly tell Japan and the world what the US has done?" Suzuki said on the personal website, commenting on Japan's media reports about a possible visit by US President Joe Biden to Nagasaki in May 2023.
The lawmaker believes that Biden's visit to the bombed city would be the right decision.
"During (the visit), he [Biden] should say what he would really like to say. I wish he would tell the world, not to mention Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the following: 'The use (of nuclear weapons) is impossible; the use of atomic bombs was a mistake," he said.
Japan will chair the G7 multilateral platform in 2023. The top-level G7 summit will be held in Hiroshima from May 19-21, 2023. The Group of Seven largest economies includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the US.
Japanese media reported earlier this week that Biden is expected to visit the Japanese city of Nagasaki during his trip to the summit of G7 world leaders in Japan in May 2023. Should the trip to Nagasaki be confirmed, it would be the first time a sitting US president visit the southwestern Japanese city hit with an atomic bomb in the final days of World War II, Japanese news agency reported, adding that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would likely accompany Biden during the visit.
In May 2016, former US President Barack Obama paid a historic visit to Hiroshima, making him the first US president to the city since World War II.
In August, Japan marked 77 years since a US B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing about 140,000 people. The second atomic bomb strike on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later killed 70,000 people.
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history.
The bombings caused Japan to declare surrender on August 14, 1945, bringing World War II to an end.
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