Prospects Of Restoring The Previous Level Of Cooperation Between Russia And Romania Discussed In Moscow

Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Kasyanov conducted negotiations in Moscow with Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mircea Geoana and Minister of Industry Dan Ioan Popescu. In the centre of their attention was the aspiration of both countries to intensify their business contacts and to restore the earlier existing level of cooperation. This year, the trade between Russia and Romania will reach the pre-crisis level and will amount to approximately 1.5 billion dollars. At the negotiations considerable attention was also paid to questions of supporting Russian enterprises and companies in the Romanian market - creating favourable conditions for the work of the Russian capital in that country. At the present time, such big Russian companies as LUKoil, Gazprom, RUSAL and Uralmash, are operating in Romania. The Russian companies own several oil refineries, aluminium plants and enterprises producing equipment for oil extraction and refining. The gas pipeline from Russia to Romania is being expanded and gas storages are being built with the participation of the Gazprom. Russian enterprises, firms and companies are interested in the further expansion of their presence in the Romanian economy. For its part, Romania is interested in widening the deliveries to Russia of furniture, wines and textiles.