Turnover between Moscow and Beijing could surpass $200 billion by the end of the year, Igor Sechin has suggested
Moscow is on course to become Beijing’s largest foreign trade partner, after the US, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin told the Russian-Chinese energy business forum in Beijing this week.
China has been Russia’s largest trade partner for over a decade while this year Moscow placed fourth on Beijing's list, but this year’s surge in bilateral trade signals a change in rankings, he stated.
“If such bilateral trade dynamics continue, Russia may become China’s second largest trading partner after the US in the coming years,” Sechin suggested, noting that this would rank Russia ahead of Japan and South Korea. Both countries have seen a sharp drop in bilateral trade with Beijing, he added.
Sechin observed that trade turnover between Russia and China has jumped by nearly 30% in the first nine months of the year, to roughly $176 billion.
“There is every reason to believe that trade turnover between our countries will exceed the target of $200 billion this year,” he said.
Total turnover over the past five years has grown to $660 billion, with energy making up more than 75% of Russian exports to China, Sechin added.
The Rosneft head noted that both China and Russia are currently carrying out “structural reorganization of the economy under increased external pressure,” referring to sanctions imposed by Western nations, which have largely targeted Russia, but also partly Chinese companies, especially in the tech sphere......More Below
https://www.rt.com/business/585525-russia-china-trade-surge/
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
