Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Vladimir Padalko welcomed the participants of the meeting of the Russian-Tajik Business Council, held on March 2 in Dushanbe. He urged business councils not to be afraid to raise acute questions in cooperation between Russia and Tajikistan. The meeting was held within the framework of the Ninth Conference on Interregional Cooperation “Business and Investment Partnership between Russia and Tajikistan”.
The meeting of the Russian-Tajik Business Council "Prospects for bilateral business cooperation between Russia and Tajikistan" was attended by: Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation; Sadi Kodirzoda, Chairman of the State Committee for Investments and State Property Management of the Republic of Tajikistan; representatives of state authorities and chambers of commerce and industry of Russia and Tajikistan on issues of bilateral cooperation, heads of regions of the two countries, including the governor of the Omsk region Alexander Burkov. The moderator of the meeting is Islam Nazaraliev, Chairman of the Russian-Tajik Business Council.
In his speech, Vladimir Padalko noted the special role of the institution of business councils in the activities of the Chamber in the foreign direction. According to him, over the past 30 years, business councils have proven to be an effective mechanism for developing practical ties between business communities.
In our opinion, the Russian-Tajik Business Council is a good example of a combination of all the main factors necessary for successful and fruitful work, V. Padalko said. An additional advantage is the presence in Tajikistan of a "mirror structure" - the Tajik-Russian Business Council.
The Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation drew attention to the good starting positions for further growth and development of Russian-Tajik cooperation in the trade and economic sphere. According to him, the mutual trade turnover between Russia and Tajikistan demonstrates a stable positive trend, which is confirmed by statistics. “We see serious prospects for building up cooperation in such areas as construction, agriculture, the mining sector and metallurgy, digitalization and information technology,” he stressed.
Vladimir Padalko noted the great potential for ties at the regional level. The keen interest of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in working with Tajik partners is evidenced by their wide participation in business forums in Dushanbe and the Sughd region, which took place in 2021 and 2022.
The Vice President of the Chamber drew attention to the fact that new times pose new challenges for the Russian business community. “In particular, new tasks are facing the business councils,” he said. “As the past year has shown, today businessmen expect concrete practical assistance from us. First of all, in the search for alternative suppliers of products, entering new sales markets, in solving problems in mutual settlements,” V. Padalko emphasized.
According to him, the most important task that is set before business councils today is to identify systemic problems and additional reserves in trade and economic relations with a partner country, to promptly bring this information to the relevant government structures.
To achieve these important goals, Vladimir Padalko urged the Russian-Tajik Business Council not to be afraid to raise sharp, even "uncomfortable" questions before the government.
One such problem is the trade balance between the two countries. According to the vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, the situation when 93% of the trade turnover is Russian export cannot be called stable. According to V. Padalko, it is the raising of such questions, drawing the attention of government agencies to the systemic problems of trade and economic cooperation that creates the prerequisites for the government to take important regulatory measures necessary to create a favorable economic and business environment in general.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, in cooperation with our partners - the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tajikistan - is ready to continue to provide maximum support to the Russian-Tajik Business Council in the implementation of initiatives aimed at developing and strengthening trade and economic cooperation between our countries, concluded the vice-president of the Chamber.
The work of the Ninth Conference on Interregional Cooperation continued within the framework of the plenary session with the participation of the heads of government of the two countries. ___________________________________________
The Russian-Tajik Business Council began its activities after the reorganization on November 1, 2022, Islam Nazaraliev, General Director of the NaftaGaz group, was elected chairman.
Press Service of the Chamber
