12th Austrian-Russian Business Council met yesterday at the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation in Moscow.
The audience was addressed by many speakers, including Dr. Richard Schenz, Vice-President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, who said that bilateral relations are a result of many years of mutual efforts. Russia is now rated 17th among Austria’s trade partners and 12th by the scope of its exports to Austria.
Despite the present-day political hardships, bilateral trade is growing and in 2019 it has already gone up by 3.4%. Though it’s still a long way to come back to the €6.6 bln pre-crisis record, 600 Austrian companies keep operating in Russia, he noted.
One of the major obstacles for Russia’s development and a cause for a recession in Russian and Europe is Russia’s structural dependence on its raw materials’ exports. What Russia really needs now is R&D and innovations which contribute to a stable and long-lasting cooperation and to a far-reaching dialogue between the EC and the EAEU, he concluded.