Member of the State Duma (lower house of the Russian Parliament) and coordinator of the Russia-Austria parliamentary friendship group Aleksei Burnashov commented on the results of Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl’s visit to Moscow, noting that “Relations between the two countries continue to develop. A rich, regular and intensive dialogue at the highest level is highly commendable. Areas of exchange between the countries are defined and include inter-parliamentary, humanitarian, cultural and interregional cooperation. All these areas are well-established formats of cooperation, but this does not mean that the parties do not try to find new forms,” Russian Parliament’s website reports.
According to the parliamentarian, the interregional dimension of economic cooperation plays an important role. Presentations of Russian regions in Austria and visits of Austrian business people as part of business missions to Russia have become regular. As of the end of 2018, bilateral trade grew by 42.7%.
“An important event for the two countries to enhance their bilateral dialogue is the signing by the Russian and Austrian Foreign Ministers of a statement on establishment of Sochi Dialogue Russian-Austrian Public Forum,” Aleksei Burnashov noted.