On June 17, 2025, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), in partnership with the Center for Integration and Cooperation between Russia and Latin America (CICRAL), held a roundtable titled "Russia-Latin America Trade and Economic Relations: Moving Forward?" The event was timed to coincide with the release of the RIAC working paper, "Russia's Trade with Latin America and the Caribbean: Current State and Prospects."
On June 17, 2025, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), in partnership with the Center for Integration and Cooperation between Russia and Latin America (CICRAL), held a roundtable titled "Russia-Latin America Trade and Economic Relations: Moving Forward?". The event was timed to coincide with the release of the RIAC working paper, "Russia's Trade with Latin America and the Caribbean: Current State and Prospects."
The participants were welcomed by:
- Ivan Timofeev, Director General of RIAC;
- Esteban Perié, President of CICRAL;
- Dmitry Belov, Deputy Director of the Latin American Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
- Eduardo Villegas Mejías, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Mexican States to Russia;
- Enrique Ignacio Ferrer Vieira, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Argentine Republic to Russia.
The research findings were presented by Irina Shkolyar, Director for International Cooperation at the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development.
Presentations were delivered by:
- Lyudmila Simonova, Head of the Center for Economic Studies at the Institute of Latin American Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences;
- Paul Cusinho, Chair of the "Argentina-Russia" Business Council;
- Daniela Seixas Vieira, Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations of the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Co-founder of the Ruslat Project (Russia-Latin America Observatory);
- Víctor Aguero Genes, Executive Director of the Paraguayan Political Science Association.
The discussion featured contributions from:
- Alexander Khokhlikov, Deputy Director General of National Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation with Latin American Countries, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation;
- Ivan Kryazhev, Senior Advisor at the World Youth Festival Directorate, Research Intern at the Institute of World Military Economics and Strategy, HSE University;
- Karen Catherine Banegas Hurtado, Director of Political Affairs at CICRAL Russia;
- Sergey Poltev, Head of ECM Solutions at EOS;
- Igor Sidorov, Deputy Director General for Key Accounts at EOS;
and other participants.
The session was moderated by RIAC Program Coordinator Alexandra Terzi.
The roundtable brought together over 100 attendees from Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and El Salvador.
During the event, experts discussed the current state and dynamics of Russia-Latin America trade and economic relations, the structure of trade, obstacles to increasing trade turnover and ways to overcome them, as well as new areas for cooperation tailored to the needs of Latin American partners.
