I am pleased to welcome the participants of this high-level video conference held as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The pandemic came as a serious challenge for the international community. It not only endangered the lives and health of people, but triggered an economic crisis and disrupted transport links, trade ties and production and supply chains.

This situation requires us to work together. It is important to see new opportunities in these current difficult circumstances and be aware of the unacceptability of discriminatory approaches in foreign trade, to say no to currency monopoly in international trade and finance, and to step up digitalisation in all aspects of life.

Comprehensive region-to-region cooperation and stimulating integration processes is one effective and time-tested way to overcome economic crises. Only if we join efforts, harmonise our interests and coordinate our actions, will we be able to emerge from this plight stronger than we were and confident of ourselves.

We support and consider the steps taken by China as part of the Belt and Road Initiative to be timely. I am convinced that the projects and ideas that you will discuss today will lead to normalising trade and economic cooperation and advance it substantially.

Following the principles of openness, equality and mutual benefit, Russia is willing to contribute to strengthening multilateral and bilateral cooperation in the interest of creating a Greater Eurasian Partnership which is already taking shape before our eyes in the form of a wide network of regional organisations, free trade agreements, economic corridors and growth zones, as well as major infrastructure projects. We aim to build Greater Eurasia as an “integration of integrations” and a single economic space open to all countries and associations of the countries on our continent which share the philosophy of mutual respect and friendly cooperation.

In this context, we prioritise efforts to combine the building of Belt and Road with plans to promote the Eurasian Economic Union, which is one of the most advanced regional integration associations. The Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation between the EAEU and China entered into force in October 2019. The Eurasian Economic Commission, the union’s executive body, and the Chinese government are now forming joint working bodies. These mechanisms will be used to launch specific industry projects. We hope to be able to see the results of these efforts soon.

I wish you every success in your work, the results of which, I’m confident, will help effectively deal with the aftereffects of the pandemic and give a significant boost to international economic cooperation.

 

Sergey LAVROV

Moscow, June 18, 2020