Russian and Slovak mutual trade rising

Mutual trade between Russia and Slovakia has been growing, and there are still many possibilities for boosting this cooperation, concurred Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SOPK) president Peter Mihók and his Russian counterpart Sergey Katyrin after meeting in Bratislava on Tuesday. Russian Ambassador to Slovakia Alexey Fedotov took part at the meeting as well. Mihók and Katyrin discussed mainly possibilities of further cooperation between the two chambers as well as how to deepen the mutual economic relations between Slovakia and Russia. Slovakia has been generating a passive trade balance vis-a-vis Russia, so it's important for Slovakia to increase exports of Slovak products to the Russian market. This should also be supported by the Government. Mihók said that Slovakia's exports to Russia reached €585 million in 2016, while imports from Russia amounted to €2.33 billion, with oil and gas and other raw materials making up 90% of all imports from Russia. The SOPK president added that the Slovak chamber is preparing three business missions to Russia this year and conversely, Russian entrepreneurs are set to visit Košice as well.