President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Sergey Katyrin called on the participants of the Russian part of the Russian-Kazakhstan Business Council to actively seek partners in Kazakhstan. On February 9, he reminded the participants of the expanded meeting of the Russian part of the Business Council about the existence of the Council in Kazakhstan, which contributes to the development of bilateral ties. According to him, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation is ready to assist in every possible way in establishing and maintaining such contacts where they exist.
Opening the meeting, which took place in the library of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation on Ilyinka, Sergey Katyrin noted that the Chamber has high hopes for the activities of the Council. Especially now, when there is a serious increase in trade between the two countries and special relations have been built between the leaders of the states, which was confirmed by the recent visit to Moscow of the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Sergey Katyrin recalled that during the visit of the President of Kazakhstan to Moscow, he moderated the meeting of Russian and Kazakh businessmen. For each direction and project, comments were given, and the mood for building long-term business relationships was noted, the Head of the Chamber said.
The President of the Chamber noted that he expects the Council to work on the difficulties that exist in the way of business development and which should be addressed together. He especially noted the involvement of the Council in the work of the intergovernmental commission and the fact that the heads of the Business Councils are included in the work of such commissions as deputy chairmen.
The Chairman of the Russian part of the Russian-Kazakhstan Business Council, General Director of Bashkir Soda Company JSC Eduard Davydov, who then spoke, presented his vision of the promising areas of the Council's work for 2023. “We are connected with the Republic of Kazakhstan by the historical past, the unity of cultural traditional values, and economic cooperation,” Eduard Davydov emphasized.
According to him, among the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, Kazakhstan is the most promising partner of Russia. The share of its trade turnover in Russia's mutual trade with the EAEU countries is 38 percent. Since 2016, it has been observed how companies choose national currencies in settlements in mutual foreign trade in goods and services between Russia and Kazakhstan, Eduard Davydov drew attention. In his speech, he named logistics, transport and international transportation, the development of payment and settlement infrastructure, industrial cooperation in the industrial energy and oil and gas sectors as the main areas of cooperation.
Some members of the Council have already indicated their interest in the topics of modernization of checkpoints, the development of electronic document management between Russia and Kazakhstan in terms of transport accompanying documents, the development of international transportation in the context of parallel imports, Eduard Davydov said.
He called the development of non-commodity products (consulting, educational services), technological entrepreneurship, development and improvement of the environment an important area of cooperation. Eduard Davydov paid special attention to the importance of disclosing information about the activities of members of the Russian part of the Council. According to him, this will expand competitive opportunities in the market, give impetus to the development of joint cooperative investment projects, and increase awareness of the business climate. In this regard, E. Davydov mentioned the upcoming business missions to Kazakhstan and, in particular, the business mission of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Yakutia.
Executive Director of the Russian part of the Russian-Kazakhstan Business Council, head of the department for interaction with public institutions and expert business support of Bashkir Soda Company JSC Natalya Kryuchkova presented organizational issues of the activities of the Russian part of the Council, the work plan of the Council for 2023, which provides for the promotion of the interests of business communities of the Russian Federation, the activation of contacts and the establishment of ties, the development of effective interregional cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan. She said that the Russian part of the Council includes 65 organizations from 16 constituent entities of Russia.
Then the members of the business council, in particular, the President of the Association of Innovative Enterprises in the Energy Industry “EnergoInnovatsiya” Mikhail Smirnov, the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Saratov Region Alexei Antonov, the President of the National Association of Autotourism and Caravanning Sergey Lobarev, spoke, who presented the possibilities of cooperation with Kazakhstan in their areas.
Press Service of the Chamber
