MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) - Trade between Russia and the Czech Republic will rise to the record level of $5 billion in 2005 from $3.7 billion in 2004, an official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
Mikhail Kamynin said that the Russian-Czech trade turnover had been characterized by steady dynamics in the past few years. "But the structure of bilateral trade is still unbalanced: Russia exports mainly energy products while the Czech Republic supplies finished goods," the Russian diplomat said.
Therefore, both parties attach great importance to the implementation of large-scale joint projects in the field of energy, machine-building, research and production cooperation, and also in the military and technical and investment areas," Kamynin said.
He added that the Russian-Czech relations in the humanitarian sphere were also developing actively. In 2005, the Czech Republic held a series of large-scale cultural events with Russian participation, including as part of the events to mark the 60th anniversary of Victory over Nazi Germany in WWII.
