Marina Vilchinskaia

marinavilchinskaia@gmail.com

THE Russia Session of the Asia-Pacific International Cooperation and Exchange Series was held at the Shenzhen Longhua International Cooperation Center (LICC) on Tuesday.

The event, co-organized by the Beijing International Exchange Association, aimed to deepen economic and trade cooperation between Chinese and Russian enterprises, with a focus on the digital economy, intelligent manufacturing, cross-border services, and the financial sector.

LICC sees enormous untapped cooperation potential between Russian firms and those in Longhua.

“Russia is vigorously advancing industrial modernization and digital transformation, generating strong demand for intelligent equipment, new energy, and IoT hardware — core industries in which Longhua excels. Russian partners can also help our local smart manufacturing brands enter Eurasian markets and gain access to local industrial resources and cross-border logistics networks,” an LICC representative said in an interview.

Representatives from 10 well-known Russian organizations and companies — including Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp., Sberbank, FESCO Transportation Group, and Arenadata — attended the session. They represented a wide range of sectors, including the digital economy, intelligent manufacturing, financial services, cross-border logistics, energy, real estate, and consumer goods.

Representatives of several Russian enterprises shared examples of potential international cooperation.

“I’m very glad that Shenzhen was chosen for our trip. As perhaps China’s AI capital, Shenzhen is of great interest to me,” said Vadim Soldatov, head of AI Products Portfolio at Skala-R.

“Skala-R produces hardware and software systems, so anything related to both hardware and software — models or AI applications — can be a subject of collaboration and discussion,” Soldatov said.

Song Yonghua, CEO of Shenzhen Suntec Information Technology Co. Ltd., said: “We’re very interested in using this event to understand Russian businesses and their needs, and to see what opportunities exist.”

Song added that his company would like to visit Russia to better understand Russian companies.

LICC, launched in October 2023, serves as a hub for international cooperation and community integration in Shenzhen.

“We host regular salons for overseas chambers of commerce, sharing sessions for cross-border enterprises, and exchange events for international talents almost every week to sustain daily communication channels with overseas partners,” the LICC representative said.