OREANDA-NEWS. October 28, 2010. UC RUSAL (SEHK: 486, EuroNext: RUSAL/RUAL), the world’s largest aluminium producer, announces the launch of “Evolution of Russia” TV series. For the first time ever the four-part documentary will bring an exclusive review of modern Russia to the Hong Kong audience.  It will highlight the country’s social, economical, political, and cultural development. The series will be broadcast on Hong Kong’s i-Cable Finance Info Channel (08) at 7:30pm on Saturday for four consecutive weeks.

Russia and China are both fast-moving economies that have grown significantly over the past decade. The Russian-Chinese relationship has strengthened and the two countries have close cultural ties, making them naturally bound to cooperate. However, Russia still keeps a low profile, and its recent impressive transformation is little known to the Chinese audience. The “Evolution of Russia” documentary was initiated and supported by UC RUSAL, the first Russian company to list in Hong Kong, and will be a catalyst for each of these two countries learning about the other. The series broadcasts interviews with Russia’s influential political and economic leaders, documents the views of Russia’s next generation and examines the significant changes that will take place in Russia’s economy and society.

The “Evolution of Russia” series consists of four episodes: 

The first, “The Wind of Change,” gives the audience a brief update of Russia today and tells how Russia overcame the difficulties of two financial tsunamis that occurred in 1998 and 2008. Government officials, businessmen and Russians of different generations share their experience and present their vision of Russia’s recent evolution.

The second episode, “Russia Going Global,” focuses on Russia’s economy and talks about how Russian enterprises learn to cope with increasing competition as the country opens its doors to the world. Exclusive interviews with successful Russian businessmen feature in this episode.

In recent years, Russia has diversified its economy and reduced its reliance on natural resources. The third episode, “Innovations in Motion,” features interviews with several young entrepreneurs who have emerged from the new Russian economy.

China and Russia have a close relationship and Russia’s rise provides new opportunities for Chinese enterprises. The fourth episode, “Shaping the Future,” discusses how Russian companies have leveraged the capital and experience gained in China and Hong Kong to open up fresh opportunities, and explains how the Chinese can invest in Russia.

During the four-month production period, RUSAL cooperated closely with the production team to help better their understanding of the Russian way of thinking and the peculiarities of the country’s modern life. To give the audience a better appreciation of Russia’s history and development, the programme interviewed important members of Russia’s political, commercial hierarchy, as well as key figures in other sectors.  Interviewees included Mr Oleg Deripaska, Chief Executive Officer of RUSAL; Mr Arkady Dvorkovich, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation; Mr Sergey Sanakoev, The Chairman of the Russian-Chinese Centre of Trade and Economic Cooperation; Mr Dmitriy Kolomytsyn, Executive Director of Morgan Stanley; and Dr Wilfried R. Vanhonacker, Dean of Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO etc.

Mr Oleg Deripaska, Chief Executive Officer of RUSAL, said, “We believe that respect for and understanding of each other’s culture are crucial for long-term beneficial cooperation. Even though Russia and China have a lot in common, we know little about each other. It was from this that the idea for the documentary sparked. We would like to thank Cable TV for supporting the ‘Evolution of Russia’ project. We hope that this documentary will enhance the Hong Kong people’s understanding of Russia and promote a greater exchange in economic, social, and cultural spheres.”

Extracts of interviews used in “UC RUSAL Presents – Evolution of Russia”:

Mr Arkady Dvorkovich, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation, “We should continue to stimulate economy, if we are to avoid a second wave of crises in Russia. And simultaneously, we should think about the future, think about our strategy to diversify the Russian economy, and look for modern innovations, so that we will not need to rely so much on exports and natural resources.” He also said: “The president has decided to announce new priorities for technological modernization and overall modernization of the Russian economy. In particular we are focusing on energy efficiency, on nuclear energy, on IT communications, space technologies and medical technologies, pharmaceutical and medical equipment. If we put an emphasis on these fields, we can achieve great results in the medium term perspective.”

The scale of investment by Chinese enterprises in Russia is increasing. The Red Village district in the South-western part of St. Petersburg will become the “Pearl of the Baltic Sea" – China's largest overseas real estate project. This modern multipurpose project integrates commercial, residential and business functions, occupying a planned area of 208 hectares. The development represents an investment of USD 1,346,000,000. Mr Sergey Sanakoev, The Chairman of the Russian-Chinese Centre of Trade and Economic Cooperation, “We are interested in having Chinese companies involved in some Russian projects and of course, we would like to use their credit or investment capabilities and to use it for the development of these projects.”

In order to create new demand, a few years ago RUSAL started to sponsor different academic institutions from around the world, capitalising on their R&D expertise to develop more environmentally friendly and efficient production processes, as well as creating new applications for aluminium. This has included changing the electric conductivity of aluminium to substitute copper, which has a higher cost, and using aluminium to substitute gasoline as fuel for vehicles. Mr Oleg Deripaska, Chief Executive Officer of RUSAL, “We try to find solutions not only for today’s problems, but for problems that might occur in 15, 20 years. We try to find solutions for technology that is yet to be developed.”