4 September 2024
Industrial
cooperation is the foundation for sustainable partnerships at the international
level. However, investors in Russia face a number of challenges, including a
shortage of industrial sites, high interest rates on loans, and often a lack of
information about cooperation opportunities. To address these issues, it is
essential to improve the efficiency of existing special economic zones, promote
industrial mortgages more actively, and scale up the advanced cooperation
experience already gained. These were the points discussed by participants in
the ‘Cooperation between Russian and International Industrial Parks: Creation
of a New Seamless Space for Technological Partnerships’ session held as part of
the Eastern Economic Forum.
KEY
CONCLUSIONS
Industrial cooperation is the foundation of
international collaboration
“In the decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir
Putin, which sets out the national goals, one of the tasks for achieving these
goals is the establishment of sustainable partnerships with key countries. Such
industrial cooperation, we believe, forms the basis for these sustainable
partnerships,” Roman Chekushov, State Secretary - Deputy Minister of Industry
and Trade of the Russian Federation.
“In modern international trade, the sale of goods without a
comprehensive package of services, without offering localized production in the
country where the goods are intended to be sold, particularly high-tech
products, will inevitably be less competitive than comparable offers from
industrialized nations. Therefore, we understood from the outset that we must
not focus on relocating our main assets abroad, but rather on scaling up our
industrial expertise,” Roman Chekushov, State Secretary - Deputy Minister of
Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
“We support and welcome the Russian government’s focus on facilitating
the movement of capital by Russian companies into foreign countries, the
creation of industrial parks, the establishment of production facilities, and
the development of new, unique products that are currently in demand and will
continue to be sought after abroad,” Denis
Kanataev, Commercial Director, Far-Eastern Shipping Company.
Industrial parks are most suited to the accelerated
development of industrial entrepreneurship
“Industrial parks, as noted by the entrepreneurs themselves, are the
most convenient infrastructure for the accelerated development of industrial
entrepreneurship. This allows our medium-sized businesses to quickly and
comfortably enter into their projects and achieve returns within a short period,”
Alfia Kogogina, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the
Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Small and Medium Entrepreneurship.
PROBLEMS
Attracting investment is difficult with high loan
interest rates in Russia
“At present, loans in
Russia are very expensive, with rates exceeding 20%. If profits are less than
25%, few investors would be willing to invest in such a technology park,” Xie Weidong, Director, Center for Scientific, Technical,
Trade and Economic Cooperation "Weilai" ("Future").
“This interest rate [the
current loan rate in Russia – ed.] is critical. It is a serious obstacle to the
establishment of production facilities by our partners from friendly countries,” Andrei Minaev, Director, Industrial Park Primorye.
A
shortage of sites for industrial parks and special economic zones
“The issue… is the lack
of sites in the Far East. We have indeed completed the creation of an
industrial park, but we cannot find a new site. Our company’s operations in the
Far East are now winding down simply because there is nowhere to build,” Andrei Minaev, Director, Industrial Park Primorye.
“Industrial
sites are in high demand. Advanced Special Economic Zones (ASEZs) may seem
vast, but they are already filled with projects at various stages of
completion, sometimes stagnant, but the land is still occupied. Industrial
parks, which are more agile in decision-making compared to government
institutions, could provide an alternative,” Denis Gros, Chairman of the
Interregional Branch for the Khabarovsk Territory and the Jewish Autonomous
Region, Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia); General Director, MC DA!
Development.
SOLUTIONS
It is
necessary to improve the efficiency of existing industrial parks and special
economic zones
“It is important to
increase the efficiency not only of the industrial parks themselves but also of
the management teams. There are very successful parks, less successful parks,
and, unfortunately, some parks that have been built, partly with public funds,
but have a minimal number of residents or none at all,”
Alfia Kogogina, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the
Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Small and Medium
Entrepreneurship.
It is
important to build industrial parks abroad and create clusters
“In the past 2–3 years,
two technology parks have been established and are now operational in
Uzbekistan: Chirchik and Jizzakh. One is being built in Navoi, and others are
planned in Sumgayit, Azerbaijan, and in Tajikistan. All these parks are
brownfield sites, created on vacant, non-operational industrial facilities. […]
29 residents operate in the Chirchik industrial park. These residents include
not only Russian businesses but also companies from Korea and Germany,” Alfia Kogogina, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of
the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Small and
Medium Entrepreneurship.
“New opportunities are
emerging between China and Russia regarding industrial parks. <…> China
has a strong foundation for attracting investments into industrial parks. Our
industrial development is progressing rapidly, with many production facilities.
We need to invite more Chinese enterprises to Russia,” He
Zhenwei, Chairman, China Overseas Development Association.
Ensure
funding for industrial parks and develop industrial mortgages
“It is necessary to
address how the infrastructure of these industrial parks will be financed. In
my view, the RUB 30 billion allocated over six years for 100 parks is clearly insufficient.
The industry, together with the regions, is preparing proposals,” Alfia Kogogina, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of
the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Small and
Medium Entrepreneurship.
Create navigation
tools for investors
“One of the reasons for
our company’s relatively low overseas activity is the lack of awareness about
investment conditions in a given country, city, or specific free economic zone.
Let us return to the discussion on creating such a navigation system,” Roman Chekushov, State Secretary - Deputy Minister of
Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
More support is needed from development institutions
for projects
“We are talking about
risk-sharing instruments, such as guarantee mechanisms. We have the Russian
Export Centre, within which EXIAR operates, offering insurance products. Our
task is to help Russian investors gain access to these opportunities abroad,” Daniil Algulyan, Deputy Chairman, VEB.RF.
*This is
a translation of material that was originally generated in Russian using
artificial intelligence.
For more
information, visit the Roscongress Foundation’s Information and Analytical
System at roscongress.org/en.