Russia asks Finland not to cut back on trade
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev asks Finland’s President Tarja Halonen not to allow cut-backs in commercial and economic relations between the two countries because of the crisis. The two presidents today met in Sochi.
-Our peoples are experiencing difficult times because of the crisis, therefore our task is to minimize the impact of the crisis on our trade and business, Medvedev said in his welcoming speech to Halonen, the news agency Prime-TASS reports.
Medvedev mentioned that security and environment are other issues the two presidents will be discussing. According to YLE.fi, President Halonen is expected to bring up wood tariffs and the Baltic natural gas pipeline.
Finland is concerned about tariffs that Russia has threatened to impose on wood exports that are the lifeblood for Finnish sawmills. So far, the worst of the tariffs have been postponed, but Finnish industry is desperate to see Russian give up the idea entirely.
