Translated material
Union of Rulers and Entrepreneurs
The RSPP wants to move business abroad with the help of the Medvedev-Putin tandem
The enthusiasm with which the business community received the recent statement by presidential candidate and First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev about the need for state support for the expansion of Russian business abroad cannot be overestimated. The lion's share of speeches at the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) held yesterday in Moscow was devoted to possible options for the development of this initiative.Apparently, increased attention to foreign business expansion, including support for the acquisition of assets in the West, explains the fact that the only guest - a representative of government structures at the congress was Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Naryshkin, who is responsible in the government for foreign economic activity. However, if those gathered had hopes of hearing from him the development of Medvedev’s thought, they were not justified. Sergei Naryshkin in his speech focused exclusively on the development of high-tech exports.
However, the name of Mr. Medvedev was heard at the congress not only and not so much in the context of cutting a “window to Europe” jointly with the authorities. As soon as the President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, declared the meeting open, the voice of Alfa Group co-owner Mikhail Fridman was heard from the hall. He proposed including on the agenda an item on supporting Dmitry Medvedev in the presidential elections. Without bothering to discuss all four presidential candidates, businessmen unanimously supported the proposal voiced by Mr. Friedman.
“Members of the RSPP proceed from the fact that state policy in the economic sphere must develop consistently, in accordance with selected priorities, stable and predictable guidelines, on a stable legal basis” - such a statement was adopted following the results of the congress. According to the RSPP, only Dmitry Medvedev can fulfill this order. “We are convinced that this choice will ensure the continuation of the generally successful economic course of recent years, strengthen state control, and have a positive impact on the creation of favorable conditions for business activity,” the statement said. For its part, the RSPP called on all people related to business to take part in the vote on March 2.
Businessmen also demonstrated their readiness to provide the future president with any assistance in promoting Russian investments abroad. Alexander Shokhin was glad that the Russian leadership, from his own point of view, sees the difference between capital flight and expansion abroad. And he immediately proposed creating a special agency to promote Russian investments abroad. “We are ready to offer our services for the establishment of such an agency on the basis of public-private partnership,” said Mr. Shokhin. He believes that the agency can be created as part of government reform immediately after the presidential elections. The supervisory board of this body could include key ministers and business representatives, and it could be headed by the head of government (according to the current officially announced version of the distribution of power, Vladimir Putin). Member of the RUIE bureau, owner of the Renova group Viktor Vekselberg said that “such a body would already have questions for dozens of meetings, and I am sure that the agenda will constantly increase.”
Another member of the bureau, President and Chairman of the Board of Vneshtorgbank Andrei Kostin, proposed creating a special state corporation that would help Russian businesses acquire assets abroad. Such a structure, according to him, operates in Kazakhstan. Mr. Kostin also has another option for promoting the interests of Russian business outside Russia. In his opinion, “you can think about using the funds from an investment fund.” The banker gave examples of unfriendly attitude towards Russian investments in Ukraine. “The difficulties faced by companies such as Tatneft and RUSAL require an assessment by our business community,” said Mr. Kostin.
However, even in European countries Russian money is not welcomed with open arms. As Interfax recalls, Renova’s purchase of a stake in the Swiss engineering company Sulzer caused a powerful negative response in the local media, which, in turn, provoked a wave of inspections of this transaction by various government agencies. VTB also faced increased attention from the European public when it bought 5% of the aerospace corporation EADS in the summer of 2006. After this transaction, the foreign media discussed for several months the issue of a “Russian takeover” of EADS, although VTB has repeatedly stated that it does not intend to increase its stake.
"MERT is a necessary department"
Yesterday, on the sidelines of the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation Sergei Naryshkin commented on reports from a number of newspapers, including Vremya Novostei, about the possible reorganization of the Ministry of Economic Development.
Reorganization of the Ministry of Economic Development “in any case should not be expected before the presidential elections,” said Sergei Naryshkin. “This issue has not been discussed yet. It is not clear to me where this release to the press came from,” he added. Answering a question from journalists about the possibility of completely eliminating the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Mr. Naryshkin said: “In my opinion, this is the right department.” "News Time"