Romania wants its relationship with the Russian Federation to be founded on pragmatic foundations which should take into account both the international profile and the interests of each country, Romanian president Traian Băsescu said yesterday, after Mr. Alexander Churylin, the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Russian Federation in Romania ended his mission in Romania.

Also, the head of state showed that Romania wants further bolstering of the dialog with the Russian party in order to exploit the opportunities for economic cooperation. The two interlocutors have praised the increase in the volume of bilateral trade over the last two years and have emphasized the need to stimulate contacts between the businesspeople of the two countries, in order to efficiently improve the existing opportunities.

In October, in Moscow, Ion Ariton, the minister of the Economy attended the reunion of the Intergovernmental Romanian Russian Commission for economic and technological and scientific cooperation. Attendees of the reunion reviewed the state of cooperation in sectors such as trade, investments, transportation, industry, agriculture, tourism, technology and science and between the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the two countries.

At the time, minister Ion Ariton met the officials of Russian companies Gazprom, Mechel and Lukoil.

In the case of "Gazprom", officials have expressed mutual interest into a contractual relationship, as well as conducting projects in partnership with the Romanian energy sector. Chairman Aleksei Miller announced the availability of the company which answers in a positive manner to the requests of the Romanian side to establish direct contractual relations to supply natural gas to Romania, and established the priority of ensuring the supply of natural gas needed for the production of electricity. Al