"I think it is very positive that Austria and Russia more than any other European countries have various platforms already of discussing these issues – not only the Joint Economic Commission, but also the bilateral Business Council had regular meetings at expert levels, not only at the state level but also the delegations of Russian regions to Austria. This multitude of platforms is a good sign of how much both sides want to boost trade cooperation and business to business contacts," Brix said.
He said the Austrian business community regretted the problems that existed between Vienna and Moscow in trade.
"I think the Austrian business community deplores the problems that exist which have to do mostly with the economic situation in Russia and worldwide – the lack of growth that we have, or in Russia’s context even the negative growth, which is predicted for this year," Brix said.
The ambassador spoke in favor of maintaining contact between the business circles of the two countries, saying that the work in this direction was already carried out.
"What we can do — we certainly can’t change the climate of the global economy, but we can lay the ground work for a constant and reliable contact between the economic players in our two countries. This is what is important in our view, and the groundwork in this area has already been done," Brix stressed.
Earlier in the week, Russia President Vladimir Putin said in a meeting with his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer that relations between Moscow and Vienna were developing despite all existing hurdles. In February, the Austrian vice chancellor visited Moscow for a joint economic commission after a break of more than three years.
The Russian-Austrian trade declined due to overall deterioration of Moscow-EU relations after the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia over alleged meddling in the Ukrainian crisis. The claims have been continuously refuted by Moscow that has maintained that the sanctions are counterproductive.
