UK Gov't Trade, Investment Agency to Stay in Russia

The activity of a Russian division in the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) department is not affected by a current economic downturn in the country, the director of UKTI Russia told Sputnik Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — Commenting on the state of UKTI’s work in Russia, John Lindfield said:

"We’ve been working in the usual way and helping Russian companies as well to look at the UK for them as an option to work… It’s always up-and-down with the economies of all countries, and so we work on that on a constant basis."

The UKTI is a non-ministerial government department created in 2003 to assist UK-based firms in their business overseas and help foreign companies invest in the British economy.

The Russian economy faced difficulties after the decline in oil prices and the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Economic problems peaked in December 2014 and the ruble lost about half its value against the dollar.

Since that time oil prices have stabilized and financial metrics within the Russian economy have strengthened. According to investment managers cited in a recent Bloomberg research, Russian economic indices are currently undervalued.