| From: [email protected] (MICHAEL COLLINS)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.officials,clari.news.europe,clari.
news.gov.international
Subject: Russia and Finland discuss trade, troops
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 92 9:38:07 EDT
NAANTALI, Finland (UPI) -- Finland agreed Saturday to advance funds to
Russia to pay its debts to Finnish companies during trade talks between
President Boris Yeltsin and his Finnish counterpart, Mauno Koivisto.
Yeltsin held a day of talks with Koivisto at the end of a foreign
trip that took him to Munich for the Group of Seven summit and Helsinki
for the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
He began Saturday by witnessing the signing by the Russian and
Finnish foreign ministers of three bilateral agreements -- one on
cultural and educational cooperation, one on scientific cooperation and
one on joint efforts to commemorate the Finns and Russians who died in
World War II.
The two leaders then paid a short visit to Hietaniemi Cemetery in
Helsinki, where victims of the war are buried, and then boarded the
Finnish presidential train for negotiations during a two and a half hour
trip to Koivisto's summer retreat near Naantali on the southwest coast
of Finland.
Trade problems, including the large number of defaults by Russian
organizations on debts owed to Finnish companies, were a key topic of
the negotiations between the two neighbors.
Koivisto announced that the Finnish government had agreed to provide
a "blanket credit" of 500 million Finnish marks ($125 million) to
cover the debts until they can be collected from Russia.
"Finnish-Russian trade currently faces major problems," Koivisto
told Yeltsin at a signing ceremony. "The reasons are the recent
upheavals in the Russian market and are thus temporary, though
stabilization will take time."
Yeltsin told reporters later the two leaders spent the greater part
of three hours discussing trade issues and that both hope to return the
level of trade to that before the breakup of the Soviet Union and
Russia's serious economic crisis.
Yeltsin was accompanied by Foreign Trade Minister Pytor Aven and top
officials from the Russian Defense Ministry and other government
departments.
He said he sought to reassure Koivisto over fears of a build-up in
the number of Russian troops being deployed to the Leningrad military
district across the border from Finland as they are relocated from the
former East Germany.
"It's not that anyone should be afraid of attack," Yeltsin said.
"This is just a temporary solution."
Yeltsin said he also reiterated his intention to withdraw the 100,000
former Soviet troops from the three Baltic states, but said it would
take time because Russia has nowhere to house them.
The two leaders discussed environmental issues in the Baltic Sea and
Yeltsin said he suggested a special commission be set up to study the
danger from chemical weapons dumped into the Baltic by Germany.
Yeltsin said the two leaders "have no disagreements" on the issue
of Karelia, a largely Finnish region taken by the Soviets in World War
II, and both reiterated they were not seeking to change borders.
The leaders agreed to ease visa requirements so families could cross
the border to see relatives and visit the graves of those who died in
World War II.
Although the two leaders said there was no need to discuss the issue,
the question of borders is a touchy one to some people in both
countries.
Finland was a grand duchy of the Russian empire from 1809 until the
1917 Bolshevik Revolution when it declared its independence. Some Finns
want Russia to return Karelia and such radical Russian nationalists as
Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky say Russia should
return to its old imperial borders.
|
| From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.biz.economy.world,clari.news.europe,
clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.hot.ussr
Subject: Russia and Finland impose customs duties
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 9:29:29 PST
HELSINKI (UPI) -- Russia and Finland will impose customs duty on
imports from each other's producers in the next two months, the Finnish
government said in a statement Monday.
Russia was to impose a 15 percent levy across the board on Dec. 1 as
a preliminary move prior to a more permanent system to be determined in
1993. Finland was also to impose levies as of Feb. 15, 1993 but did not
immediately announce a percentage figure.
Finnish producers of luxury items have been paying customs duties on
exports to Russia since Dec. 1991, but Finland said Russia was imposing
the general levies on all Finnish goods "because of its international
obligations."
Finno-Russian trade has plummeted since the demise of the Soviet
Union, with whom Finland, a close friend of Moscow, had a special
bartering arrangement. In the 1980's, some 20 percent of Finnish exports
went to the Soviet Union. Russia now accounts for only 2.5 percent of
Finnish exports.
Finland's main exports to Russia are new and used cars, vessels and
electronic equipment. Russia's main exports to Finland are oil and other
raw materials.
|
| From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.biz.economy.world,clari.news.hot.east_europe,
clari.news.europe
Subject: Hungary puts quotas on Finnish paper
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 93 13:37:55 PDT
BUDAPEST, Hungary (UPI) -- The Hungarian International Relations
Ministry plans to place temporary import quotas on Finnish writing,
printing and photocopy paper, MTI-Econews agency reported Monday.
MTI-Econews said the ministry acted following Hungarian paper-
industry complaints the Finnish imports have hurt domestic production.
The measure, which will run from Aug. 1 to Oct. 31, does not affect
imports from European Community countries.
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