In 2023, Russia’s trade with near abroad countries in Asia rose to a record $56.2 billion, according to RIA Novosti calculations based on national statdata.
Total trade turnover with the region increased by 7% to $56.2 billion from $52.5 billion a year earlier. Kazakhstan remained Russia’s main trading partner among the CIS countries in Asia: trade turnover with it over the year remained at the level of $26 billion, but the share of Kazakhstan slightly decreased to 46% from almost 50% a year earlier.
Uzbekistan became Russia’s second largest partner in the region: the trade turnover of the countries increased by 5.4% compared to 2022 – up to 9.9 billion dollars. Armenia rounded out the top three, with trade up 1.4 times last year to $7.3 billion.
Then comes Azerbaijan, trade with which increased by almost 18 per cent to $4.4 billion. Uzbekistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan increased trade with Russia to historic highs in 2023, accounting for 38% of Russia’s trade with the countries of the region against 33% a year earlier.
At year-end, Kyrgyzstan became Russia’s fifth largest trading partner, with trade with it falling 17% to $2.9 billion. Georgia became the sixth with a trade turnover of $2.4 billion against $2.5 billion a year earlier.
Trade with Tajikistan grew slightly, by 2.7 per cent to a record $1.7 billion.
Thus, last year’s trade turnover should be no less than the figure for 2022 – 1.6 billion dollars.
We shall remind you that earlier the German newspaper Die Welt recognised that the Russian economy was booming despite years of sanctions.