China and Russia pledged to cooperate on what the China Daily called a quasi-free trade zone linking Suifenhe in Heilongjiang province and Pogranichny in Russia's Far East Region. First-phase construction is already under way. The zone will reportedly offer commodity trading, warehousing and trade processing, house a tech park and promote tourism. Trading will reportedly start in two years, when Phase 1 should be finished. Last year, cross border activity in the area accounted for 22.3% of US$15.7 billion in Sino-Russian trade.