Report: Russia, US have chance to boost trade, investment cooperation

MOSCOW, Dec 1 (PRIME) -- Russia and the U.S. have a chance to widen trade, investment, innovative, and technology cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview to Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published late on Wednesday.

“We also have a possibility to increase mutually beneficial cooperation in the trade, investment, innovative, and technological spheres. We are interested in expansion of cultural and humanitarian exchanges, of contacts between people. We have something to work on if the will is mutual,” he said.

In 2014, relations between Russia and the West deteriorated to their worse since the Cold War due to a military conflict in Ukraine. The West introduced sanctions against some Russian individuals and firms and further against the energy and banking sectors. In response, Russia limited food imports from some countries, including the U.S., the E.U., Canada, Australia, and Norway. This effectively froze all relations between Moscow and Washington.

Despite all of that, the Russian economy is still working. “The policy of imports substitution has brought tangible results. In general, the Russian economy is standing firmly on its feet and has adapted to restrictions and low oil prices,” he said.

He added that neither Russia nor Italy win anything from the economic standpoint of the sanctions.

The public opinion and business opinion in Italy are becoming more and more vocal in standing for restoration of relations with Russia and abolishing the sanctions, he said.

Lavrov also said he hopes that Rome will build its relations with Moscow on the basis of its own interests in the first place, as contraction of the trade turnover between the countries is very concerning. In 2015, the turnover fell 36.2%, while in January–September 2016 it plunged 41.2%, he added.

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