Russia becomes Moldova's largest trade partner

In the last three years trade between Moldova and Russia has increased from $329.4 million to $406 million.

As the Moldavian Economy Ministry reported, Moldova's export to Russia had grown from $210 million in 2000 to $246 million in 2002, while Russia's export to Moldova had grown from $119.4 million to $160 million within the same period.

The Economy Ministry pointed out that Russia was Moldova's largest trade partner, with its share in the total export and Moldavian import equalling 37.1 and 15.2 per cent respectively.

When giving comments on the issue, First Vice Premier of Moldova Vasily Iovv stated in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti: "Realisation of the 1998-2008 programme of Russia-Moldova economic cooperation will be considered at the seventh meeting of the intergovernmental committee on economic cooperation between the two countries scheduled to take place on June 26th-27th in Chisinau." According to Vasily Iovv, positive changes in setting up Russian-Moldavian joint ventures with Russian investments have begun to show.