Russian Railways says its President Oleg Belozerov and the CEO of China Yingkou Port Group Corporation Lee Hechzhun signed a cooperation agreement in St. Petersburg on 7 November 2016.
The document was signed during a meeting between the heads of government of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China.
The agreement was included in the development of a Memorandum of Understanding dated 3 September 2015.
The two sides regard each other as strategic partners and have expressed an interest in establishing a basis for cooperation on the joint development and management of logistics centres and international multimodal transportation.
Under the agreement, the parties will contribute to the active implementation of the project to create an international terminal and logistics centre (TLC) on the basis of TLC Bely Rast LLC.
To achieve this, it is envisaged that China Yingkou Port Group Corporation will acquire 49% of the share capital of TLC Bely Rast LLC on the basis of an open competition.
According to the parties, the agreement is a further step towards the creation of an efficient international transport and logistics corridor, an increase in freight flows between China and Russia and the rest of Europe, a rise in productivity and greater efficiency at the companies engaged in international transport and logistics projects, as well as cross-border e-commerce to create new business opportunities and the joint development and exploitation of the market potential in Europe and Asia.
The project to develop the railway infrastructure of the Bely Rast station and terminal and logistics centre is being implemented in accordance with the "Railway Transport Development Strategy in the Russian Federation to 2030," which was approved by the Russian Government in decree No. 877-r dated 17 July 2008 and by Moscow city government in its decision of No. 1070-PP on 18 November 2008 on the General Development Plan of the Moscow railway hub.
The aim of this project is to create a network of terminal and logistics centres and meet transportation needs, as well as to deliver terminal, logistics and associated services.
Razvitie TLC LLC, whose sole shareholder is Russian Railways, currently owns 100% of Bely Rast LLC.