Russian authorities have begun to pay the consideration of trade activities with China in cryptocurrency, namely electronics. For this, a special working group was formed within the framework of the experimental legal regime (EPR).
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According to Vedomosti newspaper, the group includes individual importers among the members of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia (CCI) and the Association of Electronics Developers and Producers (ARPE), as well as some banks. These are mainly those market participants who face the greatest difficulties in making payments to banks in the PRC and other countries because the products they need are considered dual-use goods, that is, theoretically usable not only for peaceful purposes but also for military purposes.
The Russian Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance are responsible for training the circle of people involved in the EPR work. When creating the focus group, these two Russian entities took into account the company's turnover: the higher it was, the more likely the company was to take part in the experiment.
The Russian Ministry of Finance “took note” of the idea of allowing the creation of cryptocurrency exchanges, department head Anton Siluanov said in August.
In the future, Russia plans to attract even more participants to work in the EPR.
Russia and China have decided to digitalize mutual trade. This became known in early July 2024.
According to reports by RIA Novosti, in light of Western sanctions, representatives of the business circles of Russia and China had already discussed issues related to the introduction of digital technologies in trade relations. Special attention had been paid to the problems of payments, customs clearance, document management, and legal aspects of cooperation. In addition, issues of process standardization, the creation of unified digital platforms for business interaction, and the possibility of using blockchain technology to increase the transparency of transactions had been considered.
Zhou Liqun, president of the Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Russia, noted that the record trade turnover between Russia and China of $240 billion reached in 2023 is not a limit. According to his forecast, this figure could grow to $350-400 billion in the coming years, provided affordable digital tools are introduced.
Vitaly Mankevich, president of the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RASPP), stressed that digitization will help cope with sanctions pressure by enabling the integration of various processes to improve the effectiveness of transactions. Mankevich noted that a significant part of digital solutions is concentrated in the field of logistics and customs clearance.
Russian Export Center (REC) Vice President Roman Genkel spoke about measures to support Russian exporters. In 2023, the REC supported 1,784 foreign business participants in transactions with China totaling about $1.6 billion.
Founder of the Russian-Chinese B2B digital trade platform “Kifa” Sun Tianshu said that in 2023 the platform's trade turnover exceeded 6.7 billion rubles. The company plans to increase turnover to 150 billion rubles through the development of digital trade infrastructure.
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