* Interview with Mr. Aurelian Gogulescu, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Prahova
Reporter: What is your opinion concerning the Romanian-Russian relationships at this moment?
Aurelian Gogulescu: The market of the Russian Federation, with its 142 million inhabitants, is very important for Romanian businesspeople.
Romania had a significant tradition when it comes to the export of goods to this market, exports which consisted of equipment for the oil industry, furniture, fast moving consumer goods, foodstuffs, household appliances etc.
Given the tradition of economic cooperation with Russia, on one hand, and the extended economic crisis which we are currently going through, there is a need for identifying the potential business partners for the Romanian companies, on the Russian market, at this moment.
Right now, even if the volume of Romanian exports to the Russian market, as well as their structure has changed a lot, the potential remains great, because Russia is a country with an emerging economy and it is imperiously necessary to restart our bilateral economic relations, in order to shift the weight of our trade balance towards our exports, to help the Romanian companies.
Reporter: How are you cooperating with the Informational -Economic Russian Balkan Agency? What concrete steps were taken to develop the Romanian-Russian relations?
Aurelian Gogulescu: Last year, in October, we had the chance of signing with the Informational -Economic Russian Balkan Agency a partnership agreement based on which we opened a representative office of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (C.C.I.) Prahova in Moscow. This represents a first at the level of the Romanian chamber of trade system, being the first representative office in the Russian Federation. The official signing of the agreement though which the representa
