Modernisation of Kaliningrad-Elblong Motorway Should Be Completed towards 2004

The modernisation of the motorway between Kaliningrad and the Polish town Elblong should be completed towards 2004. A modern checkpoint will also be set up on the border. Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Sergey Frank announced this on Friday after the sixth session of the United Russian-Polish Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation.

As a result of the meeting, Sergey Frank and Polish Minister of Infrastructure Marek Pol signed a protocol on the further development of economic cooperation between the two countries.

Frank has said that Poland is one of the most important trading partners for Russia, so the main task of the committee meeting was to 'hear the opinions of the businessmen of both countries on what is holding back the development of trade between the two countries'.

'The annual commodity turnover between our countries is greater than USD 5 billion. This is larger than our commodity turnover with Great Britain. Poland is the leading investor in the Kaliningrad region', said Frank. He also remarked that in the course of the commission's work, a decision has been reached on the creation of bank groups, working continually for the improvement of the infrastructure of banking services for business cooperation between Russia and Poland.

The Russian minister for transport told journalists that the signing of an inter-governmental agreement on aviational communication between Kaliningrad and Warsaw is intended to take place in June. He said that it is intended that the agreement be signed on board an aircraft flying from Warsaw to Kaliningrad.

Sergey Frank also said that a seminar on shipbuilding in Russia and Poland will take place in Moscow in September. It's intended that heads of banks of both countries will be taking part. The aim of the seminar is to discuss mutual projects on the construction of transport and fishing vessels.