MOSCOW, January 24 (RIA Novosti) - A session of the Russian-North Korean inter-governmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation could be held in March, the Russian co-chairman said Wednesday.
"The inter-governmental commission will only produce credible results if the Russian and North Korean Finance Ministries find an acceptable solution to problems relating to the re-payment of North Korea's debt to the Russian Federation," Konstantin Pulikovsky said, adding that the meeting will be held in Moscow.
North Korea owes over $8 billion to Russia.
The commission last met October 20, 2000 in Pyongyang.
The Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of the Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management said that the Russian half of the inter-governmental commission met December 11 in Moscow.
It was reported earlier that the main issues for the March discussions will be the use of Korean workers in Russia, the construction of the Trans-Korean Railroad, Russian electricity supplies to North Korea and Russian crude processing in the hermetic state.
Russian Railways has been negotiating the reconstruction of the eastern section of the Trans-Korean Railroad and its linkup to the Trans-Siberian Railroad for the past few years.
The issue was brought up in August 2002, when President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il discussed the idea of creating an uninterrupted rail line from Far Eastern ports to Western Europe.
Trade between the two countries totaled $240 million in 2005, and $140 million in the first nine months of 2006. Cooperation in the forest industry sector remains the strongest aspect of bilateral economic relations.
