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Soviet Union [USSR] Yugoslavia
In 1964 Yugoslavia negotiated a formal agreement of cooperation
with Comecon. This relationship allowed Yugoslavia to maintain its
nonaligned position while acquiring almost all the rights and
privileges of a full Comecon member. In the 1980s, the Soviet
Union's trade relationship with Yugoslavia resembled its
relationship with full members of Comecon. The Soviet Union
exported fuel, ferrous metals, plastics, and fertilizer to
Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia's machine-tool, power-engineering,
shipbuilding, and consumer goods industries supplied the Soviet
Union with
soft-currency goods (see Glossary).
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Yugoslavia became more
dependent on Soviet oil, as hostilities in the Persian Gulf cut off
its supply of Iraqi oil. In addition, from 1970 well into the 1980s
actual trade with the Soviet Union exceeded planned trade volumes.
Thus, in 1983 the Yugoslav government informed Soviet Prime
Minister Nikolai A. Tikhonov of its desire to decrease trade with
the Soviet Union in the mid- to late 1980s. Because of the huge
foreign currency debt accumulated by Yugoslavia from 1981 to 1985,
however, the Soviet Union remained its most important trade partner
in the late 1980s. In fact, for some Yugoslav products, such as
shoes, the Soviet Union was the sole foreign buyer.
Data as of May 1989
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