MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2019) Russia and Slovenia have every opportunity to step up bilateral trade to $2 billion and even further despite sanctions and tariff wars that cripple international markets, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday at a press conference with his Slovenian counterpart.
Marjan Sarec is currently on his visit to Moscow. At the joint presser, Medvedev recalled that in 2018, bilateral trade grew by 9 percent year on year to $1.3 billion.
"Definitely, there is a potential for growth up to $2 billion. We have traditional areas for cooperation - these are energy and exports of certain products and raw materials from our country, exports of consumer goods, as well as pharmaceuticals from Slovenia. But we need to expand beyond this," Medvedev said.
He noted that Russia and Slovenia had a number of important joint projects related to infrastructure, railroads, high technology and digital cooperation.
"I do not see any obstacles to the growth of trade between our countries [up to $2 billion] and even further, even amid sanctions and various problems that exist in international markets, including trade wars and so on. Everything is in our hands," the Russian prime minister added.
Apart from focusing on economic cooperation, the talks resulted in a number of joint documents signed, including a program for cooperation in culture, science, education, sports and youth policy for the period of 2019-2021.
In addition, the ministries of justice of Russia and Slovenia adopted a program for cooperation for 2020-2021.
The sides also signed a plan of working consultations between the Russian and Slovenian foreign ministers for 2020 and a program for cooperation between the city authorities of Moscow and Ljubljana for 2019-2021.
