Foreign min: Russia wants to expand economic cooperation with US

MOSCOW, Mar 26 (PRIME) -- Russia is interested in expanding economic ties with the U.S., and also intends to improve its investment climate, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday at a meeting with representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia.

“Russian–American cooperation does not reach its full potential today, to put it mildly. We would like to add some momentum to this investment and economic cooperation…We are ready to support an increase of business connections in any way,” he said.

The Russian government and President Vladimir Putin have repeatedly confirmed the country’s intent to improve economic cooperation and the country’s investment climate, he said.

“We want to attract foreign business, including the American one, and we want to create favorable conditions for that. We hope for a mutual favorable relation toward the Russian (business in the U.S.). We are expecting traditional and active participation of the U.S. businessmen in different economic forums, including the St. Petersburg International Economic forum that is to take place in June,” he said.

The trade turnover of Russia and the U.S. is growing, it amounted to U.S. $25 billion in 2018. It is still lower than a record of $31 billion in 2011, but it is definitely better than the turnover the countries had during the presidency of Barack Obama. Economic cooperation is a victim to the internal political situation in the U.S., he said.

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