MYKOLAIV, JUNE 14th, 2010, CONTEXT-PRICHERNOMORIE – President of Mykolaiv Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergiy Vlasenko thinks warming of relations between Russia and Ukraine opens new opportunities for businesses of Mykolaiv, Context-Prichernomorie correspondent reports.

The agency has been informed about it today 14 June at the press service of Mykolaiv Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

According to them, Russia remains the main foreign trade partner of the region. Last year the sum for the goods exported to Russia was equal to USD 450 million, while the amount of import from there was USD 179 million. Almost 30 percent of the overall import fell on Russia last year this was almost twice as much as to the European countries and the US together. A similar situation in the service sector – about 20 percent falls on Russian partners.

Russian market is especially important for engineering enterprises of the region, but it is becoming more and more difficult to keep their position at this market.

According to Mr Vlasenko, development of Ukrainian-Russian cooperation does not mean a fall out with other world markets. However promotion to these markets meets plenty of barriers. One of them is technical standards being significantly different from Ukrainian standards while in case with Russia the majority of technical standards have been common since the times of the USSR, this is an immense advantage.

In addition there are other factors: absence of language barriers, remaining cooperation ties, wide range of humanitarian contacts, a really existing right to move between the countries.

A very similar picture has developed in the sector of transport/ according to the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Ukraine, Russian cargoes today form up to 70 percent of the transit cargo flow through Ukraine. Their role is also important for the ports of Mykolaiv: mineral fertilizers, coal, ore and grain. Ukraine claims to be a transit country, development of the transportation knot is an obligatory requirement in all development strategies of Mykolaiv and the region.

Within the first a couple of days after the Kharkiv Agreement had been signed, the partners’ interest was distinctly formulated and presented by all Russian media resources.