15-16/2019 Trading nevertheless!
Better than nothing, anyway! The Russian economics ministry expects the country’s gross domestic product to grow by around 1.3% in 2019, with the prediction based on a moderate oil price – the raw material is still an important backbone of the country’s foreign trade. The strong recent growth of Russia’s exports is likely to slow down this year, but the ongoing devaluation of the rouble is making exports cheaper. Russia’s largest trading partner is China; the country is aiming to double this segment over the coming years to approximately USD 200 billion. Goods exchange with West European partners, for example in Germany, also improved in the first three quarters of 2018, growing by around 25% in comparison with the same period last year, to approximately EUR 36.9 billion.
So sanctions are not all – above all when we’re talking about foreign direct investment. Chinese, South Korean and Saudi Arabian players are amongst the parties that are continuing to show an interest in important Russian transport infrastructure projects. We recently discussed one example thereof – a planned high-speed railway line linking Moscow and Kazan – with the first vice-president of the Russian Railways, Alexander Sergeevich Misharin. The conversation took place in Vienna on 18 February, where Austria, Russia and Slovakia signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of a broad-gauge line from Košice (Slovakia). Another conversation, this one in Verona with Alexey Grom, CEO of UTLC Era, confirmed to us that there is still plenty of scope for trade on existing Eurasian routes. There’s no dearth of action on eastern tracks, as you can see!
Enjoy your read!
Christian Doepgen
Editor-in-chief
