Russian Chamber of Commerce President Notes Growth of Machinery Share in Exports

Head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce says that the share of machinery and equipment in the country's foreign trade has increased.

XIAMEN (China) (Sputnik) – The structure of Russia’s foreign trade has begun changing, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Sergey Katyrin told Sputnik noting the increasing share of machinery and equipment in it.

"The structure of our external trade has started changing, the share of machinery and technical products, products with the high added value has increased. It does not grow fast, the annual growth amounts to around two percent, but the structure has started changing," Katyrin said on Sunday adding that mineral resources still dominated in Russia’s exports.

Katyrin noted the potential for export growth in the Russian agricultural sphere. As for the exports of machinery and technical equipment, the official emphasized the competitiveness of Russian  products on the markets of Latin America, Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Asia Pacific.

The CCI chief also called the structure of Russia's exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) "ideal" as it did not include oil and gas and was only based on machinery and chemical products.

The official made his statements on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in China's city of Xiamen. This year, the forum is being held from September 3-5 in the so-called BRICS Plus format including the leaders of such non-BRICS countries as Egypt, Mexico, Thailand, Guinea and Tajikistan.