LONDON: Trade between Russia and the United Kingdom is growing despite sanctions, said British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, adding that London is confident on that upward trend.
“I’m delighted that trade is increasing in spite of difficulties, in spite of the sanctions regime. We certainly want to see more of that,”Johnson said on Friday after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
“I think we are exporting about five million pounds’ worth to Russia at the moment and it’s good news that Russian customers are now buying loads of British goods, from crisps to Bentleys, and I would in no way discourage that,” he said.
According to the Russian Trade Envoy Boris Abramov, trade between Russia and the UK has grown this year for the first time since 2014. It increased by 25 percent during the first nine months of 2017 to $9.3 billion, he said, adding “We see a significant rise in both exports and imports.”
Russian exports to the United Kingdom in January-September grew by 29.4 percent and were worth $1.4 billion.
In 2016, the volume of trade between the countries fell by 7.3 percent compared to 2015, with exports falling 7.1 percent and imports dropping 7.8 percent.
