Russia-Israel commission resumes work after three-year interval

MOSCOW. December 3. KAZINFORM. The Russian-Israeli mixed commission on trade and economic cooperation resumes its work after a three-year interval, reported a source at the Russian government; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.
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It will hold its seventh meeting in Moscow on Thursday which will be co-chaired by Russian first vice-premier Viktor Zubkov and Israeli vice-premier and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman. The commission had the previous meeting in 2006.

The Russian government noted that the commission resumes its work against the backdrop of the successful development of the Russian-Israeli political dialogue. The sides continue the practice of annual Russian-Israeli summits and established contacts between the security councils, the foreign ministries and related ministries.

The cancellation of the visa barriers helped to form a favourable interstate atmosphere. The intergovernmental agreement on dumping visa formalities during mutual trips of Russian and Israeli citizens entered into force in September 2008.

According to the source, the sides plan to give special attention to qualitative improvement of economic relations. The scheme "raw materials and fuel in exchange for machinery and equipment" has exhausted its potential and cannot serve as a reliable basis for developing relations. The global economic crisis showed vulnerability of this model: trade halved in January-July 2009, he continued.

The government source is sure that an agreement on encouragement and mutual protection of investments will be a good impetus to the development of investment cooperation; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.itar-tass.com for full version.

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