NEW DELHI: The Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on Wednesday, opened its office in New Delhi with an intention to enhance trade and economic cooperation, according to the official statement.
On Wednesday, as a part of the business mission to India, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Sergey Katyrin opened the office.
Before the forum started, Katyrin met with the Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Shalesh Patak and also invited him to pay a return.
In his opening speech at the forum, Katyrin first thanked the leadership of the FICCI and said, “Without exaggeration, I can say that in terms of its scale, level of representation and the number of participants (more than 100 people), this visit is the largest business mission on the agenda of our joint events over the past 14 years, when a Cooperation Agreement was signed between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and FISCI.”
He also noted that the trade between India and Russia is breaking records as at the end of 2022, the mutual trade reached a record high of USD 35.3 billion, which was 2.5 times more than the 2021 record.
According to Sergei Katyrin, such a rapid development of economic relations is largely facilitated by changes in the global foreign economic environment. On the other hand, India has traditionally been one of Russia’s key strategic trading partners. Business contacts are also developing in multilateral formats such as BRICS and SCO, the statement read.
The Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has made a significant contribution to this work.
In his speech, he listed the improvement of the quality of information exchange about the opportunities and conditions of work in the markets and promising areas of cooperation as one of the priority tasks. Assistance in checking the reliability of companies, creating practical formats for interaction and contacts between entrepreneurs.
In the Russian Chamber of Commerce, the development of business cooperation with India is one of the priority areas of international activity, said the head of the Russian Chamber.
The head of the Russian chamber recalled that since 2006, the federation has been actively working with the Business Council for Cooperation with India, which has established itself as an effective mechanism for promoting the interests of not only Russian, but also Indian entrepreneurs in the markets of our countries, as per the statement.
He stated, “an important feature of our cooperation at a new stage is the high interest in developing business ties with India on the part of Russian small and medium-sized businesses. It is on this segment that the stability of bilateral trade and economic cooperation and the prospects for its diversification largely depend.”
“Therefore, it is no coincidence that the business mission mainly includes companies of this profile – more than 60 companies from 27 regions of Russia operating in various sectors of the economy: light industry, chemical, pharmaceuticals, IT industry, mechanical engineering, automotive, innovative technologies,” Katyrin added.
The development of interregional cooperation is another important area of our work. At the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we always place special emphasis on this vector. Russia is not only Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Russia is Krasnoyarsk, Ural, Kuzbass, Tula, Lipetsk, Novgorod, Tyumen and many other industrial centers that are now interested in establishing contacts in India.
“By the way, all the heads of the chambers of commerce and industry from the regions listed above are present in the hall today and will be happy to continue communicating with you on the sidelines of our forum,” the president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry drew attention, according to the official statement.
Good opportunities for the development of trade and economic cooperation are provided by major international exhibitions and congresses. “Given the importance of this area for the development of business ties and the promotion of mutual trade, the leadership of our “leaders” in this area (the largest in Russia) – the exhibition complex – Expocentre, and the congress center – the World Trade Center, is also with us today,” said Sergey Katyrin.
The President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation expressed his hope that the results of the forum would make a practical contribution to the realization of the existing prospects. “I count on the effectiveness of the negotiations of entrepreneurs in the B2B format, which will be held in the second part of our forum,” said Sergey Katyrin.
The Indian business community was represented at the forum by a large number of over 300 entrepreneurs. (ANI)