The Russian-Emirates Business Council (REBC) Summed Up the Results of 2021
20.01.2022

In Moscow, at the Library of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday, January 20, a meeting of the Russian-Emirates Business Council dedicated to the results of 2021 was held. The participants of the meeting, which was chaired by the Chairman of the Russian-Emirates Business Council, Chairman of the Management Board of Rosgeo Joint-Stock Company Sergey Gorkov, discussed the tasks and directions of activity for 2022.

 

The head of the Council noted that the main direction in its activities should be not only communication between businesses, but also the accumulation of solutions for subsequent implementation. Sergey Gorkov called certification of products on the UAE market one of the priority tasks.

 

In his opening remarks, Alexander Kopkov, Director of the Foreign Relations Department of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, noted that Russia’s trade with the United Arab Emirates continues to grow even despite the pandemic restrictions. In 2020, it reached US$3.3 billion. The “breakthrough” growth of trade turnover is based on a favorable market situation for Russian exports, the basis of which is still products of the fuel and energy complex.

 

According to Alexander Kopkov, it is about the need for joint efforts to diversify the structure of trade, build up cooperation in other non-resource areas.

 

In addition to refined products, we can talk about the development of industrial cooperation. IT technologies, medicine, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, robotics, aviation - in these and other areas, Russia also has something to offer, emphasized the Director of the Department of External Relations of the Chamber.

 

“In our opinion, there are good prospects for increasing food supplies. Emirates imports about 80% of all necessary food. At the same time, in the structure of our exports for 2020, the share of food products amounted to only 8%. Obviously, there are good opportunities for representatives of small and medium-sized businesses,” A. Kopkov emphasized.

 

Alexei Busev, Executive Director of the Russian-Emirates Business Council, presented a report on REBC activities. He noted that the priority areas of REBC activity are information technology and innovation, investment and finance, food and agro-industrial sector, industry, high technology, oil and gas industry, geological exploration, tourism and hospitality sector. The tasks of the council include promoting the interests of Russian business in the UAE markets, increasing the export of Russian goods and services to the UAE market.

 

In 2021, 5 industry-specific REBC meetings were held on agriculture and food, IT and innovation, the tourism and hospitality sector, restaurant business, oilfield services and IT. Partnerships have been established between a number of companies and financial centers, business missions have been carried out in the UAE of the Altai Territory, Kirov and Novogorodskaya Oblasts. Conducted business missions in Russia “Week of the Emirate of Sharjah in Russia and the business mission of the industrial zone KIZAD (Abu Dhabi). Round tables and seminars were held on the issues of export and doing business in the UAE in the Arkhangelsk, Tyumen, and Orenburg regions.

At the meeting, a presentation of the b2b-market place "Business Navigator-Russia-UAE" was held, which was presented by Yulia Suvorova and CIO of "Rosgeologiya" Pavel Solovyov.

 

Following the results of the general meeting of members of the Russian-Emirates Business Council, a report on the activities of REBC was approved. Yulia Suvorova, Head of the Project Office of the Office of the Director General of Rosgeo JSC, was approved as the Executive Secretary of the Russian-Emirates Business Council.

 

By Peter Cheremushkin,

Press Service of the Chamber