- 16.06.2016
President of Taishi Group of Companies, Executive Director of Russian-Japanese Business Council Igor Dyachenko took part in the round table “Russia and Japan: creation and development of new model of business cooperation”, which was held on June 16 in St. Petersburg within the framework of 20th International Economic Forum (SPIEF). The round table was organized by Russian-Japanese Business Council, “Delovaya Rossiya”(“Business Russia”), and Japan Association for Trade with Russia and New Independent States.
Among the participants of the discussion were parliamentary deputy minister of economy, trade and industry of Japan Tsuneo Kitamura, deputy minister of industry and trade of the Russian Federation Alexander Morozov, deputy minister of economic development of Russia Stanislav Voskresensky and co-chairman of “Delovaya Rossiya” Sergei Nedoroslev.
President of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Yasushi Akahoshi, President of Japan Business Club Keiji Ikamura, Vice President of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd (UNIQLO) Noriaki Koyama, General Director of Mitsui & Co. Moscow Hiroshi Meguro, President of Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co. (SODECO) Masao Fujita, Kaluga Region Governor Anatoly Artamonov, General Director of Metalloinvest Management Company Andrey Varichev, Senior Managing Director for Investment Activities of the ROSNANO Asset Management Company Ashot Marian, member of the Presidium of the General Council of “Delovayas Rossiya” Sergei Gabestro also took part in the round table.
In his introductory remarks the moderator of the round table, Chairman of Russian-Japanese Business Council, Alexey Repik, mentioned that the first round table was organized by the same group of people at the SPIEF in June 2015. “Today we can say that we have laid a good tradition. And the current discussion will continue pragmatic and mutually beneficial style that was set a year ago, Mr Repik said. He suggested making bilateral meetings in St. Petersburg a permanent platform for Russian-Japanese discussion.
Mr Repik stressed Russia’s desire to build a well-balanced long-term mutually beneficial foreign economic policy whereAsia-Pacific region plays an important role, along with other geographic partners. “Russia and Russian business came to the Asian markets consciously and for a long time”, he said.
Mr Repik focused on the priorities of the Russian companies. “Russia has not only oil and gas and othernatural resources. Russia obtains engineering and information technology, health and transport, space and aircraft industry, robotics and nuclear power, chemical industry and agriculture. And we are actively welcoming cooperation with Japanese colleagues in all non-oil sectors”.
According to him, cooperation can be built through the creation of new co-production enterprises, through special investment contracts and other instruments and preferences that Russia offers to foreign companies in the framework of new industrial and investment policy. . Russian business, Mr Repik said, is seriously interested in obtaining Japanese advanced technologies and developing the production base on the territory of the Russian Federation. “In turn, we are ready to share what we have in technology and get together with the Japanese partners the maximum synergistic effect” .
Parliamentary Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan Tsuneo Kitamura expressed hope that representatives of business circles of the two countries will develop their relations taking into account the desire of Japanese and Russian governments to cooperate. “We are ready to contribute to increasing diversification and productivity of the Russian economy and to work with the Ministry of Economic Development in this field through the introduction of Japanese technologies to increase productivity”
Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia Stanislav Voskresensky noted that business dialog allows to link the economies of Russia and Japan. “When there are stable ties established, businessmen will figure out what competitive products to produce. We are not just exchanging capital and goods. We are building joint business success stories “.
He stressed the importance of specially created Russian-Japanese group for improving the investment climate. “The group considers both system problems (customs, etc.) and specific problems of companies. In fact, an ombudsman office for Japanese business has been established in Russia. This is unprecedented,“, concluded Mr Voskresensky.
Co-chairman of “Delovaya Rossiya” Sergei Nedoroslev said that the competitive advantage of the Russian machine-tool industry is a large number of good engineers. He gave an example of how machine-tool plant in Sterlitamak (city in Bashkortostan region) in just 9 months created a unique machine that aroused great interest of specialists in many countries.