Sanctions have opened the Russian market up for innovative products and investment from China, according to an expert
Chinese companies are looking to fill vacant niches in the Russian market after the departure of Western firms due to sanctions, a member of the Russian-Chinese Technology and Innovation Chamber, Wu Zhang, has said.
A host of Chinese businesses are interested in investment projects in Russia and are keen to build plants and showrooms to display their products, in particular, innovative household appliances, auto parts, and robotics, Wu said at a meeting of Russia’s Association of Small Businesses on Monday.
He also highlighted the prospects for cooperation in tourism once the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted in China, adding that the two countries are now enjoying “the best relations in history.”
This comes as Russia-China economic ties are seeing strong momentum, with mutual trade turnover approaching $150 billion over the past ten months. The countries have also accelerated efforts to move away from the US dollar and euro in trade and towards settlements using the domestic currencies.
READ MORE: Russia-China trade soars – official
Speaking via video link at the 27th iteration of a regular meeting that brings the Chinese and Russian heads of government together, Premier Li Keqiang told his counterpart Mikhail Mishustin that many banks in both countries have connected to each other’s payment systems to facilitate cross-border transactions. He stressed that the move was “very important for the smooth functioning of production and supply chains.”
Moscow and Beijing previously agreed to conduct energy transactions using the national currencies instead of the dollar. According to Mishustin, nearly half of all trade between the two countries is now done using the Russian ruble or Chinese yuan.
https://www.rt.com/business/567705-china-russia-investment-projects/
Nvidia would be barred from shipping advanced artificial intelligence chips to China under bipartisan legislation unveiled Thursday, Bloomberg reported. A Chinese expert said the move is shortsighted, noting that tightening restrictions despite domestic industry opposition will only accelerate China’s tech innovation and further diminish Nvidia’s chances of reentering the Chinese market.
Known as the Secure and Feasible Exports Act, the bill would order the US Commerce Department to halt export licenses for sales of chips to adversaries, including China and Russia for at least 30 months. Any processors more powerful than those already approved for export to those nations would be subject to the measure, the Bloomberg report said.
The legislation comes as the White House weighs whether to allow Nvidia to export the....more below
A high-ranking ICC official, Nicolas Herrera, secretly financed the sanctioned UPC armed group in the Central African Republic, according to court materials obtained by Sputnik.
Nicolas Herrera, a high-ranking official in the Registry Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC), secretly recruited and financed the Union for Peace (UPC) in the Central African Republic (CAR) armed group, led by local warlord Ali Darassa, to capture ICC target Joseph Kony, by using US-based NGO employee Joseph Martin Figueira as a covert intermediary, thereby violating the ICC’s financial accountability standards by funding an armed group, according to a Sputnik correspondent's analysis of public court records.
The conviction of Joseph Martin Figueira, a Belgian-Portuguese anthropologist found guilty of espionage and collaborating with militants in the Central African Republic (CAR) in November, has uncovered a complex financial trail linking ICC staff to the country’s armed militants, evidence ...
Hundreds of retired Israeli police officers have urged the regime’s president, Isaac Herzog, to reject Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon in corruption cases.
On November 30, Netanyahu, who faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of public trust in three separate cases, submitted a formal pardon request to the office of Herzog, claiming the long-running corruption cases were tearing the regime apart.
In a letter to Herzog, about 400 former officers, including ex-commissioners and deputy commissioners, said Netanyahu’s request contains “not even a hint of admission of guilt,” making it unacceptable.
They warned that “such a step without [Netanyahu’s] confession and remorse is liable to ignite severe violence in Israeli society.”.....more below
