Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
HARBIN, May 21 (Xinhua) — “In terms of humanitarian cooperation, the Amur Region is the leader among other Russian regions in the number of Russian-Chinese joint events, just like Heilongjiang Province is among Chinese regions. I very much hope that in the future we will be able to raise the level of these events by attracting additional partner regions from both sides,” Amur Region Governor Vasily Orlov said in an interview with Xinhua.
He made the statement on the sidelines of the 34th Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair, which is being held in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province, northeast China, from May 17 to 21.
“We have more than 200 events. They are held annually, there are very bright and iconic ones that have become the calling card of our cities – Blagoveshchensk and Heihe and the Amur Region and Heilongjiang Province,” explained V. Orlov.
Among the above-mentioned events, the governor named the annual winter festival held on the ice of the Amur River (Heilongjiang River), which includes hockey matches, car rallies, and winter swimming competitions.
“We have a number of regions that would like to act as partners in this event, and Heilongjiang Province will certainly also find such partners from the Chinese side,” noted V. Orlov.
The Governor of the Amur Region highly praised the Harbin Winter Ice and Snow Festival. “It has become such a calling card that people from all over China come here to see it, but we have every chance that the winter festival in Blagoveshchensk and Heihe will be the same calling card and tourists will come there.”
According to V. Orlov, there is colossal potential for tourism between Russia and China. “We are implementing several large logistics projects, including a cable car, the construction of which will be completed this year. Such a facility will give a serious boost to the growth of the tourist flow.”
“We are further developing the theme of promoting tourism throughout Russia among Chinese tourists. We have built a new airport in Blagoveshchensk, built all the infrastructure for aircraft, and by the end of the year we will build an international passenger terminal. We are also actively working to develop the sector of flights from Blagoveshchensk to other cities of interest to Chinese tourists in Russia, such as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Irkutsk and to Baikal,” the governor noted.
V. Orlov is also aware of the high demand and congestion of flights between Blagoveshchensk and Harbin. “We really hope that the number of such flights will increase so that they fly regularly between the two cities,” he summed up. -0-