BEIRUT, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Jacques Sarraf, co-chairman of the Lebanese-Russian Business Council, called upon the Russian government on Wednesday to remove all obstacles facing Lebanese-Russian economic cooperation.
"We kindly ask the Russian government to remove all obstacles facing trade and investment exchange between the two countries," Sarraf was quoted as saying by a statement issued by the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.
Sarraf's remarks came during the fifth Lebanese-Russian forum held at the chamber to discuss ways of boosting ties between Russia and Lebanon.
Sarraf said that it is time for Lebanon to boost its economic ties with Russia regardless of the international conflicts between Russia and the United States.
He added that Lebanon's imports from Russia are valued at 570 million U.S. dollars in 2018, compared with only 5 million dollars of exports from Lebanon to Russia.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Lebanese-Russian Business Council Alexander Gogolev said that there are a lot of opportunities of cooperation between Lebanon and Russia in several areas including oil and gas, energy and industry.
Lebanon has signed at the beginning of this year a deal with Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, to upgrade and operate storage installations in the northern city of Tripoli.
Also, Russia's Novatek will participate in Lebanon's offshore oil and gas exploration and production at energy blocks 4 and 9.
