Editor's Note: The 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, on November 18.
From Singapore to Sydney, from Jakarta to Bangkok, from Mexico City to Lima—Guangdong's links with APEC economies have never been just lines on a map. For 37 consecutive years, Guangdong has been Singapore's largest provincial-level trading partner in China. In Thailand, new energy vehicles made in Guangdong are entering households across the country. In Indonesia, industrial parks with Guangdong participation are helping reshape the local industrialization landscape. In Peru, the direct shipping route from Guangzhou's Nansha to Chancay Port has brought the two sides of the Pacific closer than ever.
Behind these figures and cooperation are real people, real stories that cross mountains and seas, and friendships that have grown with mutual benefit.
Recently, a team from South visited HDB towns in Singapore, high-tech parks in Malaysia, new industrial towns in Vietnam, fishery cold-chain terminals in Papua New Guinea and distribution hubs for trendy goods in South Korea. It also visited enterprises and communities from APEC economies in Guangdong, recording from a first-person perspective the real picture of Guangdong and its "friends" moving from goods trade to industrial cooperation, and then to people-to-people bonds and cultural integration.
Today, as the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting enters the one-month countdown, we are launching "Guangdong Meets APEC," a series of special reports, featuring a sustainable Asia-Pacific community with a shared future under the APEC framework.
On the banks of the Volga River, Russian farmer Pavel Vasilyevich has spent more than a decade growing potatoes. His fields supply PepsiCo's crisp-processing plants—a reliable buyer, a steady contract. Yet for years, one problem nagged at him: where to get decent seed potatoes.
Russia is one of the world's largest potato producers, churning out 19.5 million tonnes in 2025. But the country has long depended on Dutch imports for high-quality seed stock. When those supply chains faltered, Pavel's operation faced a real risk of grinding to a halt.
"Over the past two to three years, importing seed potatoes from the Netherlands has become exceedingly difficult," Pavel said. "It is a challenge that the Russian Minister of Agriculture has repeatedly highlighted."
The turning point came at a seed expo in Guangdong in 2025. Pavel met Zhang Fengnian, Chairman of Guangdong Huifeng Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. What was meant to be a brief trip turned into an extended visit to a breeding center in Heyuan, Guangdong, where Pavel saw the seedlings for himself. By January 2026, the two sides had signed a trade and technical cooperation deal. Within months, 22 tonnes of Guangdong-bred seed potatoes were planted in Volga soil.
The challenges didn't end there. The sandy, alkaline soil of the Volga region bears little resemblance to southern China's acidic earth. Zhang and his expert team traveled to Russia, adjusting nutrient blends and irrigation plans to suit local conditions. By September, Pavel's harvest had exceeded expectations. He now plans to return to Guangdong to negotiate a larger order.
The potato is just one thread in a wider web. Air traffic between China and Russia surged to 2.28 million passenger trips in 2025, with more than 200 weekly flights. Cargo space on Guangzhou-Moscow routes is notoriously hard to secure, according to Wu Yingjun, General Manager of China Southern Airlines' Moscow office, as Guangdong manufacturers flood the Russian market with everything from smartphones to precision equipment.
The movement is no longer just goods. Technical teams, students and business travelers shuttle between the two places.
Cloud.ru, a Russian cloud provider, helps Guangdong brands navigate local regulations—a "digital fast lane" for companies moving beyond mere exports into deeper partnerships. Chinese firms accounted for 58 percent of new foreign enterprises registered in Russia in the first five months of 2026, the highest share in eight years, with Guangdong companies among the most active.
For Pavel, the Guangdong seed potatoes have delivered more than a good harvest. They point to a wider change in the relationship between Guangdong and Russia: from the traditional trade in goods towards joint production, technology transfer and deeper industrial ties.
Though the Volga and the Pearl River flow thousands of miles apart, a single crop has shown how practical cooperation can turn a trading relationship into something more enduring.
Reporters | Dong Han, Xie Maishi
Script | Dong Han
Filming | Qin Shaolong
Video editor | Qin Shaolong
Voiceover | Xie Hongzhou
Cover | Lai Meiya
Chen Yiming also contributed to this story.
