Gennady Timchenko, the Russian Chairman of the Russian-Chinese Business Council, has attended the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2015 on Hainan Island, China. The theme of this year’s conference was “Asia's New Future: Towards a Community of Common Destiny”. The Forum included more than 70 official panels on a range of different topics including politics, economic development and integration and regional integration.

BFA is one of the most recognized and prestigious forums for the government officials and business leaders in Asia and other continents to work together on the most urgent issues all over the world. This year the guests of the Forum included the heads of government of Armenia, Austria, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Zambia as well as the Governor-General of Australia and the prime ministers of Kazakhstan, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Qatar and Sweden. The Russian delegation consisted of about 100 participants who represented large and mid-sized businesses, sectoral ministries and departments as well as those who were interested in cooperation with Chinese partners.

Mr Timchenko was taking part in the Forum for the second time. Commenting on the results of the forum, he noted that “despite the current geopolitical tensions we can see that international partners are expressing their interest towards Russia. A specially arranged session on the dialogue between CEOs of Russian and Chinese companies confirms that the Russian-Chinese relationship continues to develop dynamically.”

Mr Timchenko continued that “the key areas of the cooperation between China and Russia include energy, financial sector and infrastructural projects.”

“The long-term Chinese-Russian energy cooperation has proved its efficiency. Gas contracts, new power generating construction projects, integrated exploration of the fields - these projects are forming our common interest in the nearest future.”

"Infrastructure construction allows us to lay the foundations for further social and economic development and to use the advantages of the geographical location of Russia and China.”

“We believe that BFA is an excellent opportunity for Russian and Chinese businessmen to discuss possible areas of cooperation in the energy, financial and infrastructure sectors. We have a significant amount of work ahead. I believe that this rapprochement gives a lot to our countries - we complement each other in different areas such as technology, and the processing and transportation of resources. Our relationship is not nominal - it is a strategic one and is based on a fundamental affinity between our states and on our shared understanding of the importance of strengthening our economic ties. The plan to increase the trade volumes between the two nations to $200 bn by 2020 is ambitious, but at the same time, realistic.”

Note for the editors:

Gennady Timchenko is Founder and Principal Shareholder of Volga Group investment group. He has more than 30 years of experience in the Russian and global energy sector. Born in Armenia in 1952, Mr Timchenko earned a Master of Electromechanical Engineering degree from the Leningrad Mechanical Institute in 1976. Mr Timchenko began his career as an engineer, and subsequently worked in the petrochemicals and oil and gas industries. During the 1980s he served in the state sector, in 1990s he held top positions in the trading companies.

Following two decades of successful executive leadership, Mr. Timchenko sought to capitalise on his experience and know-how by pursuing entrepreneurial endeavours. During the last 10 years, Mr. Timchenko made a number of strategic investments to complement his industrial portfolio. These investments became the core of Volga Group, which was established in 2007 to manage his holdings.

Volga GroupAnton Kurevin, +79199604119PR Directorakurevin@volga-advisors.com