VLADIVOSTOK, May 7. Bilateral river freight traffic between the Jewish Autonomous Region and China will resume on May 10 at two checkpoints , passenger transportation has not yet been agreed with the Chinese side, said Alexei Vasiliev, deputy head of the economics department of the EAO government.
Earlier, the Russian Consulate General in Harbin reported on a meeting with representatives of the Foreign Affairs Office of the border river port city of Tongjiang. The head of the office, Zhang Shuxin, at the meeting spoke about the preparation of the port for cargo transportation in the navigation period of 2023. Both sides have expressed interest in resuming river passenger traffic. On Thursday, the Ministry of Transport announced the planned resumption of cargo traffic at several points on the border. According to the agency, from May 10, it will begin at the mixed checkpoints Amurzet and Nizhneleninskoye.
“All checkpoints are mixed, river ones. We have two: Amurzet and Nizhneleninskoye, they will resume work on May 10. So far, only in terms of cargo. That is, there will be ferries and barges, everything is starting to work,” said the deputy head of the department.
He specified that first of all soybeans will be supplied from the JAO, equipment and agricultural machinery are planned to be imported from the PRC. Passenger transportation is not planned yet.
«The Chinese side has not yet agreed on the launch of passenger traffic through these checkpoints. We are only waiting for the approval of the Chinese side,» Vasilyev explained.
The river communication between the EAO and the PRC has suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Although in 2020, ferry flights to the port of Tongjiang were operated until the end of the navigation season, in 2021 there were none at all, the press service of the government of the autonomy said. In the summer of 2022, according to information from the Telegram channel of the EAO government, a certain Russian investor resumed cargo transportation through the Amur.