Trade, economic and industrial cooperation within the Eurasian Economic Union will be among the key agenda items at the 8th Russian-Kyrgyz Interregional Conference «New Horizons for Strategic Partnership and Integration» in Bishkek on 27–28 March. The outlook for trade growth and the future of partnership between Russia and Kyrgyzstan in this area will be discussed as part of the conference’s business programme.
«Kyrgyzstan holds an important place in the Russian Federation’s foreign and trade policy. They are our longtime partner, including in imports and exports. We are seeing steady growth of many metrics. Both our countries are members of four interstate organizations involving various degrees of integration in the economic, political and military spheres: the CIS, the Eurasian Economic Community, and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a defense union of six CIS countries: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia, as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. In all these organizations, the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the most pro-active members, which is deservedly highly appreciated by Moscow. I am confident that meetings in an interregional conference format will help us maintain our dialogue and partnership at the same high level», said Anton Kobyakov, Russian Presidential Adviser.
According to the Russian Export Center, trade between Russia and Kyrgyzstan rose 17% in 2018 to almost USD 1.9 bn, with exports accounting for USD 1.6 bn. The overall growth was driven by an increase in both Russian exports and imports, by 16.9% and 17.1%, respectively, last year.
«Growth has become positive over the last two years and we intend to maintain these bilateral trade growth rates», said Andrey Slepnev, CEO of АО Russian Export Center.
Statistics on enquiries made by Russian companies to the REC on how to enter the Kyrgyz market demonstrate that Russian exporters are showing an increasing interest in taking their own competitive products to Kyrgyzstan’s market. Russian-Kyrgyz cooperation today covers areas such as agroindustrial products, timber and metal goods.
To facilitate market entry, the group of Russian Export Center companies provides export-orientated enterprises with a whole range of state support measures in the areas of financial and non-financial services, including trade finance through EXIAR and Roseximbank.
In the future, REC experts will be posted at all Russia’s foreign trade representative offices, including in Kyrgyzstan. Their key mission will be to establish reliable communications channels between Russian manufacturers and service providers and their international customers. The new system will operate under the federal project called «Systemic Measures for Developing International Cooperation and Exports» implemented by the Russian Export Center.
The «Systemic Measures» project is part of a bigger «International Cooperation and Exports» project geared primarily to doubling Russian exports of non-commodity and non-energy products and services by 2024 to USD 250 bn and USD 100 bn, respectively. These objectives are contained in the May 2018 decrees issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which outlined the priorities of his fourth term in office.
«Integration of the REC infrastructure and expertise with trade representative offices is but part of a wider set of measures that, once combined, should create an environment involving as many companies, enterprises and businesses in export activities as possible. We would like to demonstrate that exports are lucrative, simple and not at all scary», Slepnev explained.
The keynote event of the 8th Russian-Kyrgyz Interregional Conference will be a plenary session attended by Minister for Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin and Minister of the Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic Oleg Pankratov. The plenary session will culminate in the signing of bilateral agreements and memoranda on cooperation and economic integration between Russia and Kyrgyzstan.
Eight hundred delegates are expected to take part in the event, including ranking government officials from Russia and Kyrgyzstan, business people, public figures, experts and opinion leaders.
The 8th Russian-Kyrgyz Interregional Conference «New Horizons for Strategic Partnership and Integration» is organized by the Ministry for Economic Development of Russia and the Ministry of the Economy of Kyrgyz Republic, with support from the Roscongress Foundation. The event is scheduled to coincide with a state visit to Kyrgyzstan by the President Putin of the Russian Federation.
