[Goldfisch]

Rosbalt, 13/04/2004, 12:04
Russia and EU Agree to Raise Quotas on Russian Steel

MOSCOW, April 13. 'Russia and the European Union have reached an agreement to raise the quota on Russian steel delivered to the countries of the EU,' according to Russian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Vladimir Chizhov.

As reported by a Rosbalt correspondent, Chizhov said that 'quotas which existed for the 15 member nations of the EU cannot automatically be applied to 25 countries. Accordingly, the quotas have to be raised, and that is one of the issues on which agreement has been reached.'

According to Chizhov, Russia hopes to reduce to a minimum any loss resulting from the EU's expansion. 'From the point of view of the European Union, the expansion associated with the addition of 10 new member nations to the EU does not have a major effect, as their total production is slightly greater than 5% of the EU's total production.'

'In addition,' he said, "the European Union's population will grow, but not significantly, from 380 million to 450 million. However, the expansion will have important consequences for Russia.'

According to Chizhov, following EU expansion, Russia's total external trade with member nations will exceed 50% (currently 36% of Russia's total external trade). He expressed the hope that Russia's trading relations with its European partners would not suffer as the result of EU expansion, and that any losses would be kept to a minimum.