OREANDA-NEWS. The 6th joint session of the Russia-Austria and Austria-Russia Business Councils has taken place in Austria. It was attended by President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergei Katyrin, President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Christoph Leitl, Chairman of the Russia-Austria Business Council, Deputy General Director of "Rostechnologies" Vladimir Artyakov, Chairman of the Austria-Russia Business Council Professor Helmut Liszt, leaders of Russian regional chambers, and representatives of state corporations and private businesses.

During his opening speech, Sergei Katyrin said that the Russia-Austria Business Council is one of the most effective instruments for developing bilateral economic ties in the post-crisis period. The Council is designed to remove hurdles in the way of business cooperation and pursue specific projects, on the one hand, and to launch new commercial initiatives and ambitious projects, on the other hand.

The president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry spoke highly about efforts by the Business Council to promote cooperation between Russia and Austria in the high-tech area. Russia needs modernization of the economy, while Austria has a lot to offer. However, Russian companies want to enter the European market not only with raw materials, Sergei Katyrin said. The agenda of bilateral meetings between Russian and Austrian partners included issues related to engineering, energy-saving, utilities, and power generation.

The joint session featured the presentation of the main guidelines for further activity of "Rostechnologies" and related projects, and of the Austrian Engineering and Metalworking Industry Union.

Russian and Austrian businessmen put forward a number of proposals for the business councils.

During a bilateral meeting between Sergei Katyrin and Chistoph Leitl the two sides discussed the basic issues of Russian-Austrian Business Cooperation. Sergei Katyrin and Christoph Leitl gave a high assessment of the performance of the Russia-Austria and Austria-Russia Business Councils, which made it possible to achieve specific results. The creation of sectoral working groups within the Councils will spur new joint projects, the participants in the meeting said. The participants in the meeting also focused on measures to simplify the procedure of obtaining business visas.

The participants in the session signed the Declaration on the Principles of the Russia-Austria and Austria-Russia Business Councils. The Declaration which envisages the creation of two working groups: "Engineering" and "Energy, Energy Efficiency and Utilities" was signed by Vladimir Artyakov and Helmut Lizst.