Vladimir Potapov

Ekaterinburg

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katerinburg has started to prepare for the International Machine-Building Forum to be held in the beginning of June, 2003. The administrations of the Russian President, State Duma and Russian Ministries, as well as the Russian Academy of Sciences and such powerful organizations as Gazprom, Rosoboronexport (Russian Defense Export), Rosaviakosmos (Russian Aerospace) participate in it. Evgeny Primakov, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is involved in this activity. This is the first event of this kind in Ural. Over 200 foreign companies from the UK, France, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, Japan, the Czech Republic and other countries are expected to participate in the forum.
As Yuri Osintsev, Vice Premier of the Government of the Sverdlovsk Region, explained, the forum will be open with an exhibition in the Ural Exhibition Center where the participants will work in sessions as follows: "New Technologies, Equipment and Tools in Production and Transportation of Oil and Gas", "Role of Machine-Building Complex in Russian Energy-Saving Policy", "New Technologies and Equipment for Industrial Enterprises. Leasing Processes". The workshops will take place at the sites of world-biggest enterprises like Uralmash (Ural Machine-Building Plants), Uralkhimmach (Ural Chemical Machine-Building Plants), Uraltransmash (Ural Transport Machine-Building Plants).
Over a decade has passed since the Russian regions got the opportunity to have direct ties with foreign countries. In this period the Sverdlovsk Region, through active development of political and foreign economic relations, turned into one of the centers of international business activities. Last year the number of visits of official foreign delegations to the Sverdlovsk Region (which is also named Middle or Big Ural) increased from 16 to 28 and the regional enterprises and institutions took part in 13 international exhibitions abroad.
In 2002 the foreign trade turnover of the Sverdlovsk Region grew by 8.1 %, exceeding US$4bn. The exports increased by 10.6 %. An especially high increase was shown by machine-building products (1.7 time), with their export share reaching 17.3 %. That a share of imported machinery increased by 18.1 % points to the revival of the processes associated with technical renovation of the local enterprises.
The results of this business exchange outstripped the most ambitious expectations. The Urals, taking into consideration its military value for Russia, has long been a region without access for foreigners. Now a certain mastering of this terra incognita is taking place. Osintsev points to the high pace of investment growth. If in 2001 foreign investments in the regional economy were US$749.7m (4.6 times higher than in 2000) in January-September, 2002 this figure rose to US$936.5m. Among the most significant partners the vice premier named the companies actively involved in various business activities - Duferco, Stoppani, Voest-Alpine, SMS Demag, IKEA.

A set-up of new enterprises with the involvement of foreign capital is a good indicator of growing investors’ confidence. For the last two years the number of joint ventures increased by 15.4 %, reaching 1030. Investors from 32 countries participate in new joint ventures.
Investments are accompanied with innovative technologies, state-of-the-art management practice, up-to-date industrial engineering. An impressive example in this field is the building program offered by the Dutch side. Its implementation resulted in the set-up of modern enterprises for wood treatment, making of walkway piles, wall panels, furniture, with energy-saving technologies introduced. It may be noted that in 2002 a decision to establish an "industrial district" in the Sverdlovsk Region in accordance with Italian practice was taken by the Russian-Italian Intergovernmental Commission, and a financial system of leasing was introduced jointly with the Association of Finnish Industrialists.
The Sverdlovsk Region implements more than 10 international non-profit programs which are aimed at rendering financial, consulting and training assistance to the regional enterprises and institutions. A network of representative offices of foreign companies (now they number over 190) is being developed.

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In Ekaterinburg there are general consulates of USA, UK, the Czech Republic, Baden-Wurtemburg contact bureau. In 2002 it is planned to open general consulates of China, Bulgaria, representations of Liguria Province (Italy), Czechtrade - the Foreign Trade Agency of the Czech Republic. Among other representations of foreign structures in the territory of the Sverdlovsk Region there are a division of the British Council, the Japanese Information and Cultural Center, the German Embassy contact bureau on education and culture, the coordination bureau of TACIS, the Documentation and Information Centers of the Council of Europe and EU, the correspondent office of the Italian Institute of Foreign Trade, the representations of the Russian-Finnish Trade Chamber and EBRD.

On the eve of Russia’s entry to the WTO, in the opinion of Yuri Osintsev, it is essentially important to take measures on supporting export of not only raw materials but also finished products – equipment, plants, machinery, in what the Sverdlovsk Region is directly involved. At present a target-oriented program entitled "Program for Promoting Development of Export of Science-Intensive and High-Tech Products of Local Enterprises" is being elaborated. The regional government has already taken special resolutions "On the development of international transport and logistics infrastructure of the Sverdlovsk Region" and "On the development of international exhibition and fair activity in the Sverdlovsk Region". It will lead to the set-up of two international centers – logistics and Euroasian exhibition – in Ekaterinburg.
Osintsev is convinced that the regional government has a quite clear notion of the outlook for the development of the industry in Middle Ural. Last year an important document entitled "Pattern of Development and Allocation of Productive Forces of the Sverdlovsk Region for 2015" was approved. On this basis, the region intends to attract more than US$50 billion in the next 10 to 12 years. An almost three-fold increase in industrial output is planned, along with the implementation of several big projects in metals industry, machine-building, nuclear industry and some other capital-intensive sectors.
Yuri Osintsev stresses that the efforts of the regional government in the development of international economic relations are aimed at one goal – to establish the most favorable conditions for improving business.