External Economic Activity / Business Cooperation

Business Cooperation

The Administration of Krasnodar Region pays particular attention to development of international and external economic links of the region with foreign states.  With the aim of giving assistance to organs of state power, businesses, establishments and organisations in Krasnodar Region in carrying out trade economic, scientific technical, cultural, and humanitarian cooperation with foreign partners, and also monitoring and coordination of external economic activity, the Department of External Economic Activity of Krasnodar Region was set up, which is run in strict accordance with the Federal law of 4 January 1999 No 4-F3 On Coordination of International and External Economic Links of Subjects of the Russian Federation and with recommendations by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

At the current time the Department enjoys rich experience of business cooperation with foreign states.  In 2008 the Department of External Economic Activity of the Region arranged visits by 15 official delegations and business missions (Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Serbia, Turkey, France).

The main economic events of the year and the place for meetings between Russian and foreign business, by tradition has become the international investment forum held in Sochi in September.  There were approximately 8500 participants at the Sochi 2008 Forum, including more than 1250 foreign visitors from 40 countries around the world.  The best represented were delegations from Bulgaria, Belgium and France, led by the Prime Ministers of their countries.  The largest were the delegations from Germany, Italy and Turkey.  21 foreign states were represented by diplomats, of which 11 were heads of diplomatic missions (France, South Africa, Latvia, Finland, Canada, Belarus, Bulgaria, Belgium, Austria, Horvatia and Turkey).  All together at the forum 7 business delegations were represented: German, French, Finnish, Belgian, Austrian, Turkish and Italian.

Work on establishing, developing and strengthening mutually profitable contacts between business enterprises in the region and foreign countries is being carried out in the following areas:

• active negotiations and meetings with foreign diplomatic bodies and trade missions, which are not only of a political character, but also aid in attracting attention to our region from foreign business circles, which provides a basis for and possibility of development of cooperation;
• establishing cooperation with Chambers of Commerce and Industry, professional and specialist associations and organisations in foreign countries (Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce for Russian and Belarus, the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce, the Institute for External Trade of Italy, the Committee for External Links of Turkey, the Association of European Business of Russia, the Japanese Centre in Moscow, the Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce, and the Russian-Swedish Business Council);
• establishing partnership relationships with foreign organisations and companies, for a long time working in the market of one or another country, having information on the interests and requirements of those states in our region and representing our region abroad.  For more than three years we have had reliable partners of the Region in Europe: Austria, Italy, Turkey, France, and are trying to expand the geography of cooperation to countries in the Near and Far East.

To achieve results the Department selects various forms of cooperation taking into account national particularities and traditions of countries: exchange of visits, presentations, conferences, round tables, meetings of working groups, and business breakfasts.

Understanding the importance of providing assistance, both as a specialist organ of executive power and directly to business enterprises in the Region, in establishing effective links with business circles the Department carries out a range of functions aimed at achieving a result in these fields:

Assistance to Regional companies in the search for business partners abroad.

Acquiring information through Ministry of Foreign Affairs channels and through trade representations of the Russian Federation on the business reputation and basic areas of activity of foreign companies planning to carry out projects in the Region (at the request of Russian companies).

Attracting businesses and organisations in the Region to international congress and image building events organised by the Administration of Krasnodar Region, and organisation of business meetings held within their framework.

Agreement of accreditation of branches and representations of foreign companies in Krasnodar Region.

Managing a data base of foreign companies as both potential partners and as having experience of working in Russia.

The specifics of the work carried out by the Department is such that the preparation process to carrying out joint projects with foreign partners has a long term character, however we can proudly note that direct participation by and assistance from the Department 26 major international company, such as Knauf, Bonduelle, Klaas, Philip Morris International, Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Nestle, Cargill, Austrian Airlines, Raiffeisen Bank and others, have taken their first steps in the Kuban and subsequently successfully found their niche in the market of the Region.