By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russian Premier Viktor Zubkov is set to arrive in Bratislava on Thursday on a two-day official visit for talks on economic cooperation with his Slovakian counterpart Robert Fico and other top-ranking officials.
Trade between Russia and Slovakia reached a record high of $6.5 billion last year, up 20% against 2006.
However, Russian exports, at $5.1 billion, constituted the bulk of bilateral turnover, and both countries are unsatisfied with the imbalance.
“We will announce at negotiations that Russia is concerned by this state of affairs, which is worse than our trade with many other countries, since we, regrettably, mostly supply energy resources [to Slovakia],” a source in the Russian delegation said.
The source said it would be necessary to expand trade in mechanical engineering, as well as in other spheres, to diversify exports.
There are around 60 companies with Slovak capital operating in Russia, while some 120 Russian companies are active on the Slovak market. Slovak investment in Russia currently stands at some $150 million, and Russia has so far invested around $80 million in Slovakia.
The official added that direct flights between Moscow and Bratislava, cancelled several years ago over an insufficient number of passengers, would be resumed, temporarily at least, on May 27. Russia’s flagship air carrier Aeroflot plans to reinstall flights between the two capitals for the summer.
“Flights will be resumed for the summer, but we hope this will increase the number of journeys and also help restore a regular flight connection,” he said.
Viktor Zubkov’s visit to Slovakia coincides with the 63rd anniversary of the liberation of Czechoslovakia (the present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia) from Nazi troops.