OREANDA-NEWS. A meeting between Volga-Dnepr management and representatives from Chinese business circles interested in co-operation with Russia and development of partner relations with Volga-Dnepr Group was held in the Russian Embassy in the People's Republic of China with participation of the Russian ambassador.

The senior vice president of Volga-Dnepr Group Sergey Shklyanik reported to business guests that the Group's scheduled services to/from China increased by 7%, while its charter operations in the Chinese market saw a boost of 32% in 2014.

He said that Volga-Dnepr had served the Chinese air cargo market practically since inception of the company. Some of the flights were so unique that they not only made it into books of air cargo transport but also became a notable part of the history of the PRC. It was Volga-Dnepr first to deliver a Chinese satellite to Xichang Space Launch Center onboard its AN-124-100 in 2006. He mentioned that every third satellite on Earth has been carried to launch sites by Volga-Dnepr.

Sergey Shklyanik also pointed out that the course towards expanded economic co-operation between Russia and China as declared at the recent meeting between the leaders of two countries in Beijing had been embodied by the business community. "For us, China has always been and will remain the priority market for developing our charter and scheduled cargo services. This has been confirmed by the growing traffic volumes. Since the start of its flying to the Asia and Pacific region, Volga-Dnepr has operated over 800 charter flights to/from China and carried over 55,000 tons of cargo, while operations of AirBridgeCargo Airlines in China accounted for around 18,000 flights and 1,300,000 tons of cargo," said Sergey Shklyanik.

The extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Russia to China Andrey Denisov emphasized that current ties between Russia and China have reached the highest level in the history of two countries. Leaders of Russia and China have set a goal to increase the bilateral trade to USD 100 billion in 2015 and to USD 200 billion by 2020. The ambassador opined that the significant potential for business communities of Russia and China in pursuing such goal could be uncovered in the development of transport co-operation, specifically in the air cargo sector.

The ambassador outlined that Volga-Dnepr Group has been in the pool of largest global air cargo carriers for 24 years and has excelled in establishing business ties with partners in China. "Volga-Dnepr is capable to deal with tasks of highest complexity. Such tasks require unique expertise and non-conventional logistics solutions. And the exemplary quality of transport services provided by this group of companies has been recognized worldwide. Volga-Dnepr is an undisputable global leader in outsize and heavy cargo transportation," he added.

Participants of the meeting expressed their willingness to further strengthen relations and explore new opportunities for mutually beneficial co-operation.