OREANDA-NEWS. Russian and Latvian businessmen have held a roundtable at the Expocentre JSC Congress Center.

CCI of Russia President Sergey Katyrin opened the meeting. He welcomed the Latvian business delegation to Moscow and stressed that the meeting was a sign of bilateral partnership.

Sergey Katyrin lauded performance of bilateral business councils, which he said had taken a worthy place in trade and economic relations and actively interacted with the Russian-Latvian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Scientific, Technical, Humanitarian and Cultural Cooperation.

Modern production projects in Russia and Latvia may become a promising cooperation area, the CCI of Russia head said. Fifteen “Riga courts” (the Riga court is sort of a shop within a shop) selling Latvian products have opened at large stores in Moscow and some other Russian regions. The roundtable agenda includes the so-called “green corridor”, and Russian and Latvian businessmen and the Russian Federal Customs Service will present their positions, Sergey Katyrin said. Latvian businessmen also want to know how the Russian economy feels after the accession to the WTO.

CCI of Latvia President Gundars Strautmanis said that Latvia would join the eurozone on January 1, 2014, which would strengthen the country’s economic bonds with the European Union even more. There are optimistic and pessimistic forecasts of the EU future. Hence, it is very important that Latvia borders Russia whose position is rather stable and bilateral relations are developing. Gundars Strautmanis supported the opinion of Sergey Katyrin about the need to develop joint productions. Trade is good, but cooperation is also necessary, he said.

Expocentre JSC General Director Sergey Bednov spoke about the activity of his organization and presented digits and facts. Expocentre is the main exhibition floor of the country, a host to various general and sectoral events, such as healthcare, timber industry and other exhibitions. Sergey Bednov said that Latvian companies should use this opportunity to promote their products in Russia and Baltic businessmen had already suggested that idea. In the opinion of Sergey Bednov, it is possible to organize a national exhibition within a major exhibition.

Head of the Russian Federal Customs Service’s Main Customs Clearance and Control Department Vladimir Ivin spoke about the possibility to open “a green corridor” on the Russian-Latvian border. This corridor may significantly reduce the customs clearance period, which is important in food deliveries, he said. Yet there is a need for a large company to lead the project and to become its anchor.

A proposal was made to set up a consortium of Latvian companies for the promotion of “the green corridor”.

CCI of Latvia Council member, Riga Mark Business Club head Normunds Stals, Alye Parusa Retail Chain President Olga Blazhko, PIR JSC Board of Directors Chairman Andrey Kozlov, Russia-Latvia Business Council Executive Director, Honorary Representative of the CCI of Russia to Latvia, UGMK Holding LLC Deputy General Director Alexander Rogozhin and some others took the floor at the meeting. Logistics and certification of commodities were amongst the subjects.

CCI of the Pskov Region President Vladimir Zubov spoke about transboundary cooperation and said that the Pskov region had created 4,000 jobs at companies with Latvian capital. CCI of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Board Chairman and General Director Dmitry Krasnov dwelt on regional cooperation and emphasized good prospects for a tourist cluster.

In the end of the meeting CCI of Russia President Sergey Katyrin described the attitude of the Russian business community to WTO membership. The initial agitation and fears have transformed into a calm attitude. In the opinion of the CCI of Russia head, businessmen should be careful about WTO issues: this is a transitional and preferential period but it will end at some point and everyone must be prepared. It is an important task of Russia to train the necessary number of legally aware specialists with a good knowledge of WTO subjects, Sergey Katyrin said.