What is the main direction of the RBCC’s activities in Russia? The RBCC was founded in 1916. We now have a membership of 542 British and Russian companies. Despite the difficulties we have seen, the Chamber has remained the bridge between British and Russian business. Our fundamental objective is to represent member companies, whether British or Russian, to promote bilateral trade and investment, and to help Russian companies entering the UK market. We support Russian companies - for example, when they wish to be listed on the London Stock Exchange - with everything we have: information, advice, events.
The British are investing more and more in the Russian economy. How do you explain this tendency? I think that Britain, like many other countries in the world, sees Russia as an extremely interesting place to invest. I was at one conference recently where one of the speakers described the Russian economy as the strongest economy in the world.
That may be debatable and other economists may disagree. But it is an undeniable fact that Russia has enormous potential for growth. It is now politically and economically a very stable country, which is very attractive for foreign investment. It now has the third largest foreign exchange reserves in the world after China and Japan, and being very rich in mineral wealth it has enormous opportunities for infrastructure development.
Do the British companies operating in Russia suffer from corruption and bureaucracy, or have they somehow learned to adapt to the specific conditions of doing business in Russia with its corrupt environment? That’s a very good question. You have identified the two major concerns of virtually every company that enters the Russianmarket: bureaucracy and corruption.
Are these major problems in this country? The fact remains that any company entering the Russian market has to contend with a number of headaches in terms of registration, formalities, strict regulations.
Of course we shall always recommend to and advise companies to comply with the law. If there is any suggestion of corrupt practices that are incompatible in any way with their business activities, we would never condone that. But the fact remains that compliance with ethical principles, with transparency, will inevitably mean long delays in terms of setting up business, and in developing business in Russia. But it is very gratifying to see that the government is facing and confronting this problem.
What major problems do Russian companies have when they come to the UK? I think the main area where we have faced problems in recent times with any business travelers to Britain was with certain delays in getting visas. But I would like to emphasize that we have been in contact with the Home Office of the United Kingdom.
We have regular meetings with the British Embassy visa section. And I would like to emphasize that it is more an organizational problem than a political intention to delay visas. In Britain the refusal of visas is low in comparison with the United States.
As for Russian-British political relations, they are not in the best form compared to the progress in UK-RF bilateral trade and investment, are they? We have the means to improve them. Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with President Dmitry Medvedev in the framework of the latest G-8 summit. And I think it is now time to turn to a fresh page in the long-standing relationship we have between Britain and Russia. We have to remember that our political and diplomatic relations go back to the time of Ivan the Terrible and Elisabeth I, to the 16th century. Now,when we see increasing economic trade and investment between our two countries, it is time to stand together and cooperate more closely.
