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Russian Federation signs agreement with Israel

Updated: 08/May/2006 16:13

Evgeni Primakov, President of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry

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Trade between Israel and Russia is expected to double over the next four years after a cooperation agreement was signed between the two countries

Former Russian prime minister and current President of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Evgeni Primakov came to Israel last week to sign the deal with the liaison committee of Israeli economic organizations.

"We see great opportunity for collaboration with Israel in business," Primakov said. "What we need most is to shorten the time between scientific development and the application of technology, which takes twice the time in Russia than in other developed countries."

Doubling of trade

Israel Manufacturers Association president Shraga Brosh said he predicts the agreement will double Israeli-Russian trade to 1.1 billion euros a year by 2010.

Brosh also said exports potential to Russia include not only telecommunications equipment but also agro-technology, chemicals and food processing, security and defence related products, and engineering for energy, construction and metals.

Brosh further called upon Israel's business sector to continue targeting Russia as an important trade and export partner. Russia is currently Israel's major supplier of crude oil.

There are currently over 900 Israeli companies active in Russia, this is a rise of 12.5 percent over the number of Israeli companies active in Russia during 2004. Israeli exports, excluding diamonds, to Russia rose 30 percent in 2005 to 317.7 million euros, while imports from Russia rose by 8 percent to 207.3 million euros.

The agreement with the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry is extremely important for Israeli-Russian business relations as the federation has over 20,000 companies in its membership. This in addition to 100 business organizations, makes the federation an extremely influential and powerful organization in the Russian business world.

Increasing economic ties

Brosh's success with Primakov and his federation comes only a few weeks after Brosh met with Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs President Alexander Shokhin to cooperate actively in all matters concerning industry, mutual investment, trade and research and development.

This flurry of economic cooperation between the two nations is to a large extent as a result of Israel adding Russia to its list of countries for economic preferential treatment.

In January, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor and the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute added Russia to the list of countries for preferential exports assistance, after many Israeli companies stopped exporting to Russia in the late 1990s because of political and economic instability.