OREANDA-NEWS  Russia and the UK for the first time since 2014 resumed a dialogue on the development of bilateral trade relations, despite the deterioration of the political background, said the Russian trade representative in the United Kingdom Boris Abramov.

About three months ago, Russia and the United Kingdom began negotiations on the development of bilateral trade relations. "We have restored dialogue with the British Ministry of International Trade. Now, despite the deterioration of the overall political climate, the dialogue between the trade mission here, between the trade section of the British Embassy and the Ministry of Economic Development in Moscow has been restored at a professional and working level. In this case, our and British interests coincide on the issues of promoting bilateral trade relations in areas that are not limited by sanctions. Here, the British side supports cooperation," the trade representative said.

A significant share in the resumption of dialogue between the two countries played "factor Brexit", said the Agency interlocutor. "Brexit means changing the foundations on which the UK's economic relations with other countries were built. Now they have to rethink how they build their cooperation with the outside world, including Russia," he said.

"Although the Russian market is not key for the UK, it is assessed as significant. Russia's trade with the UK in 2017 amounted to more than $ 12 billion. Naturally, Britain is interested not only in maintaining this level, but also to increase it," said the head of the trade mission .

Taking into account the fact that the dialogue at the level of the ministries of the two countries has been completely frozen since 2014, work is currently underway to restore the structure of cooperation.

"We are not negotiating on specific projects yet. We exchange information about those companies that are interested in doing business in Russia and Britain. In the vast majority of cases, there is no negative attitude towards Russians as potential business partners. And it inspires optimism both to us and to our colleagues in the Ministry of International Trade of Great Britain", — Abramov concluded.