The 8th China-Russia Financial Dialogue was held in Moscow, Russia on August 22, 2019. Chinese Minister of Finance Liu Kun and Anton Siluanov, First Deputy Prime Minister and also Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, co-chaired the meeting. Zou Jiayi, Chinese Vice Finance Minister, Zhang Hanhui, Chinese Ambassador to Russia, Sergei Storchak and Vladimir Kolychev, both Deputy Finance Minister of Russia, and Andrey Kudinov, Deputy Secretary General of the International Civil Defense Organization joined senior officials from the ministries of finance, foreign affairs, emergency management and regional departments of finance at the meeting. 

The two sides held in-depth discussions on many topics including the macroeconomic situation and policies, central-local fiscal relations, China-Russia local cooperation, cooperation on accounting and audit supervision, key issues of financial cooperation, and international financing for cross-border disaster mitigation and prevention, and reached consensus on a number of issues. Before the opening of the 8th China-Russia Financial Dialogue, Minister Liu Kun and Minister Anton Siluanov held a restricted meeting and exchanged views on the membership expansion of the New Development Bank and China-Russia local cooperation. 

Liu said this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia. The dialogue helps implement important consensuses in financial fields reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June and strengthens development of China-Russia relations for a new era. To implement the consensus reached by the leaders, the finance departments in both countries should actively promote cooperation.  

First, strengthening macroeconomic policy communication and coordination. It is necessary to introduce effective macroeconomic policies, accelerate structural reforms, strengthen macroeconomic policy communication and coordination, jointly safeguard multilateralism and the free trading system, and promote stable and healthy economic development of the two countries and the world. Second, supporting each other on major international financial issues. China actively supports Russia in organizing the BRICS Summit in 2020. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Russia under the framework of the G20 as well as in other institutions, such as the New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, accelerate the reform process of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, jointly safeguard the interests of developing countries, and promote the improvement of global economic governance. Third, as regards exploring and innovating areas of cooperation, China is willing to further strengthen fiscal and tax policy exchanges and cooperation with Russia, share experiences on such issues as budget management, tax policy and treasury management, promote the equivalence of accounting standards and cooperation in audit supervision, and provide fiscal and tax policy support for China-Russia local cooperation. 

Siluanov said the Russia-China relationship is facing unprecedented opportunities. In 2018, the bilateral trade exceeded $100 billion for the first time, and cooperation between the two countries has entered a new stage. Economic and financial cooperation plays a crucial role in achieving the goal of doubling bilateral trade volume, and dialogue between finance ministers is the most effective way of promoting such cooperation. Given the current turbulent global economic situation, the meeting broadened the scope of topics and held effective exchanges on the world economy, the macroeconomic policies of the two countries, budgetary relations at all levels, local cooperation, and cooperation on  accounting and auditing, which will help deepen cooperation between the two countries. Russia is ready to work with China to provide policy support for cooperation between enterprises of the two countries, develop infrastructure, increase productivity, boost investment in science and technology and human capital, and facilitate stable economic growth. 

The two sides exchanged views on the macroeconomic situation and policies of the two countries as well as external risks affecting economic growth, exchanged experience and practices in central-local fiscal relations, and pledged to continue to promote equivalence of accounting standards and cooperation in audit supervision, and to support cooperation in the financial markets of the two countries. For the first time, the dialogue included and exchanged views on topics such as China-Russia local cooperation and international cooperation on cross-border disaster reduction and prevention.  

The two sides signed an MOU on cooperation of accounting standards, an MOU on cooperation of audit supervision, an agreement for strategic cooperation between the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences and the Russian Finance Research Institute, and an MOU between the China Public-Private Partnership Center and the National PPP Center of Russia. 

The meeting issued the Joint Statement of the 8th China-Russia Financial Dialogue.