Russia is interested in starting a water transport corridor with Venezuela 

Russia is interested in starting a direct water transport corridor with Venezuela as soon as possible, said Roman Frolenko, president of the Russian-Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce (Cavenru), in an interview with Sputnik.

“We want to [start the corridor] soon,” Frolenko responded about the initiative’s timeline.

He added that last March 15, a videoconference was held with the Latin American partners.

They reaffirmed their interest in “working and cooperating” and “already presented plans of what they need.”

The work to create the corridor, he continued, has been going on for a long time, and there are currently three possible routes from Puerto Cabello in Venezuela to the Russian cities of Sevastopol, St. Petersburg, or Novorossiysk.

Cavenru also expects that before the beginning of the next northern summer, a Russian-Venezuelan shipping company will start operating, which, among other tasks, will contribute to solving Russia’s logistic and export problems, he said.

“Currently, Latin America is interested in our grain, sunflower oil, and agricultural machinery supplies,” while Russia could import fish, seafood, and fruits, he added.

Regarding Venezuela’s connection to the Russian payment system MIR, Frolenko noted that it has done a lot of work, but at the moment, a reciprocal payment system has not been created, and “the issue of customs agreements needs to be resolved.”

LOGISTICS

Trade between Russia and Latin American countries will be boosted once logistics problems are overcome, Frolenko said.

“The only problem is logistics. Once fixed, products from Latin America will reach the markets” in Russia, Frolenko said.

He emphasized that this would allow Russians to taste a wide variety of fish and pointed out that Russia needs Venezuelan beef as much as the Caribbean country needs Russian pork.

He added that Russian producers would like to increase sunflower oil exports to the Latin American country.

The head of Cavenru also reported that Venezuela intends to increase coffee supplies to the Eurasian nation, commenting that Venezuelan coffee, in contrast to Colombian coffee, “is not promoted” and is of “high quality.”

Last September, the then Foreign Minister of the Latin American state, Carlos Faría Tortosa, told Sputnik that trade between Caracas and Moscow had been complicated due to Western sanctions. Still, both countries will find ways to continue cooperating.

With information from Sputnik