Russian-US agreement on metal supplies could be signed before April

A Russian-US agreement on an increase in supplies of Russian metal could be signed by the end of March 2003, the press service of the Russian economy Ministry reported to RBC today. As the Ministry pointed out, at yesterday's negotiations in Paris, Deputy Economy Minister of Russia Maxim Medvedkov and US Assistant Secretary of Commerce Faryar Shirzad reached principal agreement on increasing supplies of crude iron by 1 million tons and of semimanufactured steel products by 150,000 tons per year. Until now, supplies of these products to the USA amounted to 600,000 and 75,000 tons respectively. According to estimates of the Ministry's experts, this will allow for increasing exports to the USA by $150 m per year.