China-Russia practical cooperation highly promising: Li

BEIJING - China and Russia have signed a memorandum to jointly build a high-tech park in each country as the two look to further innovation in science and technology, authorities said on Tuesday.

The park in China will be located in the new town of Xixian Fendong in Shaanxi and will initially occupy four square kilometers. In Russia, 200,000 square meters of buildings will be built in the Skolkovo Innovation Center in Moscow, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said in a press release Tuesday.

Part of China's revival of the "Silk Road", the high-tech parks are being developed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia-China Investment Fund (RCIF), the Skolkovo Fund, and the local government of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

RDIF said under the agreement RCIF and the Administrative Committee of Xixian Fendong New Town of Shaanxi will establish a joint venture for the construction of the parks.

Authorities expect to open satellite offices for the Chinese park in places such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Heilongjiang in the medium and long run, while the Russian park will open offices in Kaliningrad, Vladivostok and the Russian republic of Tatarstan.

As Russia's chairing organization in Intergovernmental Russian-Chinese Commission for Investment Advisory Committee, RDIF will support the high-tech park project in the commission's ongoing work. It also plans to help the Russian park attract high-tech companies from both countries and promote development of international companies within the parks.

RCIF is a private equity fund created by the RDIF and China Investment Corporation, two sovereign wealth funds.