Tatarstan May Become a Leading Region in High-Tech Cooperation with China

Tatarstan may become one of the leading regions or the undisputed leader of the Russian Federation in high-tech cooperation with the People's Republic of China, as well as in logistics and software development. This was stated by Alexei Maslov, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University, during the III International Forum “SPROUTS: Russia and China – Mutually Beneficial Cooperation”. According to him, a large-scale report was prepared regarding the trends in the development of Russian-Chinese cooperation and the resulting vectors of development of interaction between Tatarstan and the China, which, among other things, identified promising areas for the formation of ties.

“First and foremost, this is high-tech cooperation. It involves the creation of joint ventures, including in the Alabuga special economic zone, and of course in Innopolis — in short, wherever a center of growth can be formed. The second area is logistics cooperation. Tatarstan has created unique conditions for the rapid transit of goods. Most importantly, this includes ‘smart logistics’ – the creation of warehouses and storage facilities. It is clear that cooperation between Russia and China is developing. A number of digital platforms, such as B2B and B2C, are currently being created, which will result in an increase in the volume of cargo, including its fragmentation. Therefore, Tatarstan can play a very important role in terms of transportation and storage rate. The third very important point is the creation of joint ventures, for example, in the field of software development and artificial intelligence. Tatarstan has a very high level of industrial intelligence — it is home to universities and industrial centers, and development is underway. The republic can give a head start in this area,” Alexei Maslov noted.

The Director of the Institute of Asian and African Countries noted that an important advantage of Tatarstan is its well-established system of special economic preference zones. “Here, in my opinion, Tatarstan has an advantage over many regions in terms of various formal parameters. Traditionally, Chinese investments have gone to the Far East. But we see that now the flows are gradually shifting to other areas. Tatarstan, as the analysis shows, is doing the right things – it is attracting interest. As soon as any of Chinese entrepreneurs find out how comfortable it is to work here, they will come here. Therefore, forums such as SPROUTS create information noise in a good sense,” Alexei Maslov said.

Sun Bohui, Chairman of the Board of Directors of China Chengtong Investment Co., Ltd. and President of the Greenwood International Trade and Exhibition Center, noted that Russia and China currently enjoy strong relations and cooperation in areas such as mechanical engineering, energy resources, and agriculture. “There are prospects for the development of cooperation. I think the future lies in high technologies, for example, in robotics and high-tech consumer goods,” believes Sun Bohui.

Igor Muraev, Deputy Chairman of the Arkhangelsk Region Government, spoke about the launch of a multimodal project connecting Moscow with Shanghai via Arkhangelsk. The first container shipment was sent from the region in 2023 together with NewNew Shipping Line via the Northern Sea Route. Regional products were transported in 300 containers. According to Igor Muraev, such shipments were put on a regular schedule last year

“Cargoes are loaded at the Beliy Rast railway junction, travel 1,200 Km by rail, then are transshipped onto ships at our port and travel 6,600 miles along the Northern Sea Route to Chinese cities,” said the Deputy Chairman of the Arkhangelsk Region Government. Last year, 10 voyages were made from China to Russia and 5 from Russia to China. A total of 13,500 containers were transported, carrying products from Arkhangelsk industrial enterprises, Chinese automotive goods, and so on.

“We will continue to implement this project this year too. It is very popular because cargo travels from Moscow to Chinese ports in 20-25 days, which is 55% less than conventional routes. This is of interest to everyone,” reported Igor Muraev.

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The Third International Forum “SPROUTS: Russia and China – Mutually Beneficial Cooperation” will be held in Kazan on August 18-19. Participants from 32 countries, 59 regions of Russia, and 24 administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China have registered for the forum. Eleven government delegations and at least 200 Chinese corporations are expected to attend. Approximately 10,000 people will participate in the forum.
The business program covers areas such as inter-state dialogue, economics, industry, education, business and entrepreneurship, business associations, finance and investment, culture, media, law, transport, agriculture, tourism, and construction. The program features around 100 events, including 70 business sessions. Around 20 agreements are planned to be signed at the forum.
ANPO Directorate of International Programmes is the operator responsible for preparing and holding the SPROUTS Forum.
Official website of the SPROUTS Forum: https://russiachinaforum.com