RUSSIAN-ITALIAN TRADE REACHED $15 BILLION IN 2004

MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti) - According to Aleksandr Borisov, head of the European section of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry's Department of external economic relations, in 2004 Russian-Italian trade reached $15 billion, increasing by 40% since 2003. He made this statement at the seminar "Italy-Russia: Proposals for Successful Partnership" at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

He reminded the audience that "the next session of the Russian-Italian Council for cooperation in the economic sphere will take place in Rome" on June 22.

Last year road transportation between Russia and Italy also increased by 15 per cent in comparison with 2003, Yevgeny Sudakov, President of the Road Carriers International Association, pointed out at the seminar. According to him, however, a "rather difficult situation" is taking shape in the sphere of bilateral road transportation.

"There is an impression that the Italian side, and Italy's Ministry of Transport in particular, is stifling growth in road transportation between our two countries," Sudakov said. With the annual volume of transportation being about 500 thousand tons, "a miserable number of carrier permits is issued."

"50 per cent of traffic is carried out by Italians and us, and the remaining half - by all kinds of other carriers. In our opinion, the Italian side is pursuing a wrong policy," Sudakov emphasized.