Countries of Northern Africa interested in coop with Russia

CASABLANCA, Morocco, May 25 (Itar-Tass) - Countries of Northern Africa
are interested in products of Russian machine-building industry, Tatyana
Gvilava, the director of the Russian-Arab Business Council, said in an
interview with Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
"Countries of Arab Maghreb have colossal demand for products of
Russian machine-building industry such as tractors, tractor trucks,
harvesters, bulldozers as well as gas extraction equipment. Our Arab
partners like their acceptable price, reliability and convenience in
operation," Gvilava went on to say.
According to her, Arab countries also show interest in cooperation in
agriculture, power engineering, the construction of infrastructure
facilities and the development of peaceful atom.
The Russian-Arab Business Council helps promoting Russian business in
the Arab world and vice versa.
"The Russian-Arab trade turnover had increased from 1.8 billion
dollars in 2003 when the Council was created to 10 billion dollars in
2010," Gvilava said.
She called for organizing more meetings and exhibitions and developing
human and business relations.
"The Russian side of the Russian-Arab Business Council works actively
and I hope that this jubilee session and the St. Petersburg Economic Forum
slated for July will produce a qualitative shift and will make Arab
investors to pay serious attention to Russia.
In the meantime, Russia is open to Arab investments, while Russia want
to invest their money in Arab projects.
"Russian-Arab trade and economic relations have historically been
characterized by dynamic growth; they've successfully gone through the
period of establishment at contemporary stage; they've overblown the years
of financial instability without slowing down the tempo of their
development," Gvilava went on to say. She added that expansion of
cooperation with Arab countries was significant for Russia's foreign
economic policy.
"At the moment we've achieved a lot: trade is developing, cooperation
in other spheres like agriculture, transport, new science-intensive
technologies, water resources, tourism and space exploration is on the
rise," Gvilava emphasized.
She said that the experience of the Russian-Arab Business Council in
creating a fund designed to give an impetus to potential investment
interaction was very positive.
Russian and Arab businessmen establish direct contacts and a new
trustful dialogue at events, which the Russia-Arab Business Council
organizes in Russia and the Arab world, Gvilava said.
"Practice shows that only active players of Russian and Arab business
achieve success in joint activity, and it's comforting that the number of
such examples is growing. We've come with ready-made proposals and a
desire to create ventures. The only thing we have to do is to lock our
hands,> Gvilava said in conclusion.
A Russian delegation to the jubilee session includes more than 40
representatives of companies who work in the sphere of peaceful atom,
agriculture, construction and tourism.