Russia, UK Resume Dialogue On Bilateral Trade First Time Since 2014 - Trade Representative

Russia and the United Kingdom have resumed their dialogue on the development of bilateral trade relations for the first time since 2014, Russia's Trade Representative in the United Kingdom Boris Abramov told Sputnik on Monday.

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) Russia and the United Kingdom have resumed their dialogue on the development of bilateral trade relations for the first time since 2014, Russia's Trade Representative in the United Kingdom Boris Abramov told Sputnik on Monday.

The two countries launched the relevant negotiations about three months ago, according to Abramov.

"We have restored the dialogue with the British Department for International Trade. Now, despite the deterioration of the overall political climate, the dialogue between the trade mission here, between the trade section of the British embassy and the Economic Development Ministry in Moscow has been restored at the professional and working level," Abramov said.

According to Abramov, both Moscow and London are interested in developing trade relations in those areas that are not targeted by sanctions, with Brexit also considerably contributing to the dialogue resumption.

"Brexit means a change of the foundations on which the United Kingdom used to build its economic relations with other countries. Now they are forced to reconsider how they build their cooperation with the outside world, including Russia," he suggested.

Abramov noted that Russia was not a key market for the United Kingdom, however last year's bilateral trade totaled more than $12 billion, which was still considerable.

"Surely, the United Kingdom is interested in not only retaining this volume but also in boosting it ... So far, we have had no negotiations on specific projects. We exchange information on companies interested in doing business in Russia and the United Kingdom," he clarified.

He added that there was no negative attitude toward Russian companies as potential business partners, and stressed that this fact made both Moscow and London optimistic about cooperation prospects.

A Russian-UK trade dialogue at a ministerial level was frozen back in 2014 amid the Ukraine crisis. At that time, the European Union and the United States imposed restrictive measures against some Russian individuals, companies and sectors of the economy. Moscow has responded by imposing restrictions on food imports from the countries that supported the sanctions.

Russian-UK relations further deteriorated in March when London accused Moscow of having been involved in the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury. Russia has refuted the accusations as unsubstantiated and demanded cooperation in investigation into the incident. London has rejected the offers for cooperation and has since being pushing for tougher sanctions regime on Russia.