/ world today news/ The lack of a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis and the sanctions against Russia will seriously and for a long time undermine the economic relations between Russia and Europe and will have a negative economic effect on the whole of Eastern Europe, the chairman of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy Eckhard Cordes told RIA .
Cordes, who will participate in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum starting on June 18, noted that “The Eastern Committee is trying to use all opportunities for dialogue with our Russian partners and to support the Minsk peace process. Without an end to the bloodshed, without a peaceful solution to the conflict in the eastern part of Ukraine and without lifting the sanctions, economic relations between Russia and the EU will be seriously and for a long time undermined, with a negative economic effect for the whole of Eastern Europe.”
According to Cordes, the Eastern Committee will use the forum to obtain reliable information about the current development of the Russian economy and to maintain contacts with the Russian side. Recently, under the impact of the Ukrainian crisis and existing economic sanctions, bilateral trade relations have deteriorated. For the first quarter of the year, German exports to Russia fell by about 30%, which corresponds to losses of about 5.7 billion euros,” Cordes said.
“I will personally participate in St. Petersburg, among other discussions, in the discussion on the newly created Eurasian Economic Union. In order to start work on the idea, also supported by Chancellor Merkel, of a common European economic space, the European Commission must start direct negotiations with the Eurasian Economic Commission. This is what the Eastern Committee of the German Economy insists on,” said Cordes.
The Eastern Committee of the German Economy unites the unions of German enterprises and since 1952 has represented the interests of German companies on the markets of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Caucasus and South-Eastern Europe.
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