China, Russia cooperate on logistics center

SHENYANG - A Chinese port and Russian Railways have signed an agreement to jointly develop an international logistics center in the Russian capital of Moscow.

According to the document inked earlier this week, the Yingkou Port Group Corporation will buy a 49-percent stake in the Bely Rast Terminal Logistics Center of Russian Railways.

The two companies will invest a total of 18 billion rubles ($283 million) to build the logistics center into the largest in Moscow, said the agreement.

As part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, Yingkou Port, located in northeast China's Liaoning province, has railway routes to cities including Moscow and Warsaw, Poland.

The Bely Rast center is a transport hub for 21 container trains running between China and Europe.

The cooperation will boost China's efforts to reinvigorate its northeastern rustbelt provinces of Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Jilin, as well as serve Russia's strategy to develop its Far East, according to Li Hezhong, president of the Yingkou Port Group Corporation.