Russia and China signed the largest contract for the supply of grains worth about $25.7 billion. This was announced to TASS by the leader of the New Land Grain Corridor initiative Karen Hovsepyan on the sidelines of a business forum held in Beijing on the eve of the opening of the Third International Forum “One Belt – One path”.

“Today we signed one of the largest contracts in the history of Russia and China for almost 2.5 trillion rubles ($25.7 billion – TASS note) for 70 million tons for 12 years for the supply of grain, leguminous, oilseed cargoes,” shared Karen Hovsepyan .

He noted that this initiative will contribute to the normalization of the export structure within the framework of the Belt and Road. “The situation is that we are definitely more than replacing the lost volumes of Ukrainian exports at the expense of Siberia and the Far East,” Hovsepyan emphasized.

He also announced the imminent launch of the Overland Grain Initiative. “In late November – early December, at a meeting of the heads of government of Russia and China, an interstate agreement on the New Overland Grain Corridor will be signed,” he indicated.

According to him, thanks to the Trans-Baikal Grain Terminal, the new initiative will increase the export of Russian grain to China to 8 million tons, which is planned to be increased to 16 million tons in the future through the construction of new infrastructure.

The business forum, which precedes the third international forum dedicated to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, was held in Beijing on Tuesday. The event was attended by heads of trade, investment, construction and transport companies from countries participating in the initiative, as well as employees of financial organizations.