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Trade turnover with Russia on the decline

By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Thursday, February 7
Russia accounted for only 9.8 percent of Georgia’s foreign trade in 2007, down 3.9 percent on 2006 figures, according to the state Statistics Department. Georgia exported USD 53 million worth of goods to Russia last year, while Russian exports to Georgia increased in value to USD 578.8 million, according to the news agency RIA Novosti.

The Statistics Department said exports to Russia have decreased largely due to the trade embargo Moscow imposed in 2006.

Meanwhile, only 15 percent of Russian trade is done within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Sergey Narishkin, Russian deputy prime minister says, according to the news agency Regnum. Yet some Russian industries are dependent on the CIS market, with 50 percent of Russian automobile exports going to the CIS.