"We propose forming a business council under the auspices of the two countries' governments to move beyond formal relations," Alexei Gordeyev, the co-chairman of the intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation, said.
He also said the first session of the business council could be timed to coincide with the next session of the commission scheduled for June 2006.
Gordeyev said Russian-Dutch economic ties were rapidly developing and pointed to "the unprecedented trade and volume of Dutch direct investments in the Russian economy."
The Netherlands is a leading investor on the Russian market. Dutch investment increased by more than 20-fold from $600 million to $14.2 billion in the past four and a half years. In terms of accrued direct investment, the Netherlands ranks second after Cyprus among Russia's foreign investors.
