The cooperation between Russia and China in innovative industries will strengthen the positions of both states on global high-tech innovative markets, Russia’s Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Fomichev told TASS following the first Russian-Chinese dialogue on innovations in Beijing on Wednesday.

"We consider the event to be a big step towards innovation partnership. The Sino-Russian cooperation has been mainly about the implementation of big infrastructure projects - in the oil and gas sector, in transport, aviation and space industries until recently," he said, adding that "this is not enough at the level of small and medium-sized innovative firms."

"The partnership in the area of industrial cooperation, joint projects in third countries and technology transfer" is also insufficient, he added. "The issue is about the projects important for China regarding technological upgrading for taking a rightful place on global high-tech innovative markets. We expect this dialogue to help us get traction on all those areas," Fomichev said.

The first Russian-Chinese dialogue on innovations focused on the issues related to strategy in the technological area, as well as both countries’ innovative policy. The participants discussed the formation of innovative industrial clusters in China and Russia, integration of science and technologies with financial instruments, and explored the prospects of Sino-Russian cooperation in science and technology.