Brazil hopes to increase trade turnover with Russia

Brazil hopes to increase trade turnover with Russia to five billion dollars by 2005, said on Wednesday Brazilian Minister for Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Luiz Fernando Furlan on results of his three-day visit to Moscow.

"Our goal is to boost the volume of trade between our countries", he told a press conference in Moscow.

In 2002 the trade turnover between Brazil and Russia stood at 1.7 billion dollars. In the first four months of this year it increased by 40 percent, he said.

In Moscow Furlan had a meeting with Igor Shuvalov, chief of the governmental staff, and passed him a letter, in which Brazil recognizes Russia as a market-economy country.

"This paves the road for a revision of certain limitations in our mutual trade", said Furlan.

Brazil hopes that Russia will cancel the quotas for the import of meat from Brazil. The Brazilian delegation has brought the new sanitary documents for the import of meat, Furlan added.

The Brazilian government has asked the Russian government to revise the quota system so as not to do great damage to Brazilian suppliers.

Russia has not yet allowed Brazilian suppliers to engage in direct shipments to the Russian retail network, said the Brazilian minister.