In May 2026, the 10th China Russia Expo with the theme of "Trust, Cooperation and Win win" will be held in Harbin. At the 6th China Russia Local Cooperation Forum held simultaneously, government and business representatives from both countries gathered together to promote practical cooperation at the local level. At present, local cooperation between China and Russia is showing a trend of "North South linkage and East West mutual assistance", which has become a new growth point in China Russia economic and trade cooperation.

Deepen cross-border cooperation through the five city mechanism between the two countries

In 2022, the cities of Heihe and Zhuhai in China will establish a "two country five city" mechanism with the cities of Blagoveshchensk, Nizhny Novgorod, and Sakhalinsk in Russia. Heihe City is only separated by a river from the capital of Amur Oblast, Blagoveshchensk, Russia. Since its approval in 2019, the Heihe Free Trade Zone has become a core window for cross-border cooperation between China and Russia. By 2025, Heilongjiang's trade with Russia will reach 238.49 billion yuan, and its investment stock in Russia will rank first in China.

Southern provinces show high enthusiasm for cooperation with Russia

As one of the guest provinces, Guangdong Province has built a 255 square meter themed pavilion to showcase products such as intelligent manufacturing, smart homes, and consumer electronics. By 2025, the import and export scale of Guangdong to Russia will reach 124 billion yuan. Zhongshan City held the "Guanghuo Xingxia" event in Harbin, where department stores were loaded into ride hailing services as mobile exhibition halls. Officials from the Kalmyk Republic of Russia stated that Zhongshan is highly compatible with Kalmyk's development layout in areas such as light industry manufacturing and new energy. Keywords: the Belt and Road News Network, China Russia Expo

Local cooperation becomes a new growth point

Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Ling Ji stated that China will continue to deepen its high-level opening-up to the outside world and share the opportunities of the Chinese market with Russian enterprises. Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Ilyichev, stated that Russia is willing to deepen all-round pragmatic cooperation with China. The director of Heilongjiang Contemporary China Russia Regional Economic Research Institute suggested that local governments of the two countries can fully leverage their complementary advantages in resources and industries, and explore cooperation space in emerging fields such as digital economy and green energy. More than 20 federal subjects of Russia have established friendly relations or signed cooperation agreements with southern provinces of China.Editor/Gao Xue