FX.co ★ Russia: goodbye Europe, hello China

The visit of Russia’s President to China killed two birds with one stone. Being named the "holy grail" deal and planned for a decade, the gas deal has become not the only feather in the cap of Vladimir Putin. The trip showed how serious Russia is about its relationships with China. In addition to energy supplies, the two countries are to strengthen ties between each other by means of developing cooperation in all key sectors at a heightened pace. According to Putin, Russia’s trade with China is seen to reach $100 billion. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping decided to radically change the existing structure of trade and economic ties and boost the volume of trade. Moreover, there was a closed meeting during which two leaders discussed not only bilateral issues, but also international geopolitical problems. Putin highlighted that China is Russia’s strategic partner with the volume of trade having risen by almost 2% to $90 billion in 2013. “If we sustain this pace, the level of bilateral trade of $100 billion will be reached by 2015 and we’ll confidently move on. At the same time, we hope that the growth of quantitative indicators will be accompanied by qualitative changes in our trade and economic ties," Putin said. The gas agreement allows Russia to diversify its gas exports at a time when there is the chill in relations with the EU amid the crisis in Ukraine. Under the deal, Russia will begin supplying China with 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year starting in 2018.