President Igor Dodon announced that he goes on a working visit to Russia on May 8, at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. In a posting on Facebook, the President wrote that this is his third visit to the Russian Federation this year, IPN reports.

Igor Dodon made reference to the data published recently by the National Bureau of Statistics, concerning Moldova’s foreign trade in the first quarter of this year. According to him, Moldova’s exports of goods to Russia rose 42% and this rise considerably offset the decline witnessed in 2014-2016.

“Wine exports to Russia during the first two months of this year increased about five times, while apple exports 7.3 times. Apple exports to the Russian Federation exceed the similar exports to the European Union member states 260 times. In spite of the ban on the import of vegetables into Russia, the exports of Moldovan apples to the Russian market exceeded the quantities of apples exported in January – February 2014, before the imposition of the ban – 39,000 tonnes as opposed to 18,000 tonnes,” said President Dodon.

Igor Dodon also said the trends are similar in the case of other goods. According to him, this is the result of the work done to resume the strategic partnership relations with the Russian Federation.