Zubkov in Canada to discuss bilateral econ, trade interaction

OTTAWA, June 1 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's First Vice-Premier Viktor
Zubkov, during an official visit to Canada, is to attend a session of the
Canada -Russia Business Council (CRBC) opening here on Wednesday.
Zubkov is to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Senate
Speaker Noel Kinsella, and hold talks with Canadian International Trade
Minister Edward Fast, who co-chairs the Intergovernmental Economic
Commission (IEC) on the Canadian side, and Gerry Ritz, Canadian Minister
of Agriculture.
A staff member of the secretariat of the Russian First Vice-Premier
has pointed out that in recent years Russia-Canada trade-and-economic
cooperation has been developing successively and dynamically enough. The
business circles of the two countries manifest mounting interest in giving
greater scope to cooperation, and implement large-scale joint projects and
deals, and jointly plan new ones. These are, specifically, accords about
co-development of gold ore deposits and the mining of uranium, Olympic
projects, cooperation in developing nuclear technologies, the setting up
of automobile production and cooperation in the agri-industrial sector.
In 2010, bilateral trade turnover ran at $2,500 million, which was
almost $800 million more than in 2009. A steady growth trend also kept on
in the first quarter of this year: trade turnover grew by 30 percent as
compared with the corresponding period of last year -- from $376.9 millin
to 492.9 million.
Expert estimate is that Canadian capital investments in Russian assets
amounted to $1,500 million and Russian ones in Canada ran at $7,000
million.
Nevertheless, there is a substantial untapped potential in economic
interaction between Russia and Canada. The present session of the IEC, as
well as a meeting of the Business Council and the Forum on the development
of cooperation in the field of livestock-raising must become a significant
step along the lines of using it in full.
Participants in these meetings will consider the state of and
prospects for trade-and-economic cooperation between the two countries,
with special attention to be devoted to joint projects in the fields of
energy, science, technologies, agriculture, forestry, fisheries,
construction, space research, the development of the Arctic and the North,
and interaction between Russian and Canadian companies under the projects
for Sochi-2014 and 2018 World Soccer Cup Finals.
A separate subject of discussion will be how to deepen interregional
contacts between Russia and Canada. A detailed discussion of the subject
will be continued during a meeting between Viktor Zubkov and Jean Charest,
Premier of the Quebec Province.
As a result of the visit, the sides are to sign a package of
documents. Apart from a Final Joint Statement on the results of the IEC
session, the sides are planning to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on
main matters of cooperation between the Union of Aircraft Manufacturers
of Russia and the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, a Memorandum
of Understanding between the Federal Foundation for the promotion of the
development of housing construction and the Canada Mortgage and
Construction Corporation, as well as a Joint Statement on cooperation in
the fields of science, technology, and innovations.