Economics
Putin's China Energy Deals May Hide Paper Tigers as Growth Slows
- Only a small proportion of framework deals lead to contracts
- Russia seeks to tap China's energy market amid sanctions
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Vladimir Putin’s long-heralded visit to Beijing this week yielded five framework energy deals that bolster Russian hopes of strengthening ties with China as relations sour with the U.S. and Europe. Yet if history is any guide, most of the accords won’t bear fruit.
“Heads of agreements are multiplying at a furious pace,” Sergei Tsyplakov, head of the Sberbank OJSC’s office in China, said by e-mail before the signing ceremonies in Beijing. “Practice shows that out of 10 agreements, we get one or at most two contracts.”