The current level of economic relations between Russia and the EU, complicated by mutual sanctions, does not correspond to their common interests, participants of the panel discussion "Russia and Europe: Economic Prospects" noted at the Gaidar Forum-2016 "Russia and the World: A look into the future."
"A decrease of turnover happened not only with Russia, but also with other countries. In fact, the trend in the development of relations between the EU and Russia, as well as the EU with other countries is the same. We should not forget that we have close contacts with the European Union as our largest partner, including investment and education," a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza cites his words as saying.
Another moderator, the director of the All-Russian Market Research Institute, chairman of the Russian Chamber of Commerce on promoting foreign economic activity, Andrey Spartak, described the current downturn in relations as an abnormal situation.
"Dissatisfaction with the level of relations between Russia and the European Union was discussed today at the forum several times. The EAEC and the EU are major organizers of the global economy, located on 1/5 of the Earth's land with 700 million consumers. We also continue to maintain mutual importance as partners for each other. Relationships are complicated due to many factors, including disagreements over Ukraine and Syria, sanctions and so on, but we should find ways to work in this difficult situation," Andrey Spartak urged.
According to the head of the EU Delegation to Russia Vygaudas Usackas, "the EU, as the largest trading bloc in the world, is in favor of open relations with our partners, including Russia. Certainly, such a policy must be consistent with the current reality, as it is impossible to close the page that we are experiencing today. We had disagreements before Crimea and Ukraine and they have destroyed the foundation of Russian-European relations. However, we must, recognize that, despite the current sanctions, our relations are still very close," he said.
The first deputy chairman of Vnesheconombank, the general director of Russian Export Center Peter Fradkov, drew attention to the actual preservation of the structure of trade between Russia and the EU during the sanctions period.
"Indeed, it is not worth shifting all the problems of our contacts on to the sanctions regime. It remains at the same level. Let's say there is a problem of the state function for the insurance business. Requests from employers to insure exports to Europe also increased greatly. In 2014, the need for closing this risk was not so significant,'' Peter Fradkov said.
The deputy head of the Ministry of Energy, Anatoly Yanovsky, said that we should always bear in mind the bilateral contacts at the level of individual countries when we discuss EU-Russian relations.
