The Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry was visited by a business delegation from the People's Republic of China.
The main part of the delegation consisted of representatives of the automobile industry of Shandong Province, Liangshan County.
“We are glad to welcome you to the Chamber not only as partners, but also as friends,” with these words, Mr. Vladislav Mishchenko, theAdvisor to the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry on International Affairs, began the meeting. “ In a difficult moment you come to us with offers of help and partnership. With the withdrawal of many automobile companies from the Russian market, excellent prospects are opening up for Chinese companies to occupy the vacated niches.”
"We have a large market and an understanding of how to work on it and work efficiently," said Mr. Vyacheslav Zhigalov, the Executive Director of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association. He said that the Russian automobile market is potentially the largest in Europe and this year it became China's largest exporter of the market. Russia has very modern dealer networks with high-tech equipment and professional staff. Its 3,200 dealerships deal with passenger cars, and about a thousand with cargo trucks.
"The capacity of our dealer networks is selling more than three million vehicles a year. This may not be a very big figure for China, but it is impressive nevertheless. Meanwhile, about 700,000 passenger cars were sold last year. The situation with cargo rucks is analogous," said Mr. Zhigalov. “ Recently, China's presence in the passenger car market has tripled; in the field of cargo transportation, the results are less impressive, but we are ready to assist Chinese companies in entering the Russian market in face-to-face negotiations.”
The expert noted that it is quite easy to enter the Russian automobile market now; but in order for cooperation to be long-lasting and successful, it is necessary to develop distribution, logistics and product certification. Mr. Mishchenko noted that the MCCI has good relations with all major logistics operators, and certification issues are also within the competence of the MCCI.
Mr. Sergey Lobarev, theChairman of the MCCI Committee for the Development of Sustainable Transportation Systems, told the Chinese guests that domestic tourism, including caravanning, is now rapidly growing developing in Russia. The supply of motorhomes is a promising export destination. In addition, important attention is paid to the development of inclusive motor tourism, which requires specialized vehicles with manual control.
Mr. Cao Xutao, the Secretary-General of the Commercial Transportation Association of Shandong Province, said his region has developed various types of industries, including more than 140 enterprises engaged in vehicle manufacturing and producing up to 2,400 fleet items. Another 380 enterprises manufacture up to 18 million units of components per year. "One-third of China's automobile production is concentrated in our region. We provide competitive prices, so we look forward to fruitful cooperation," Cao Xutao said.
Mr. Yang Fengshe, Chairman of the Commercial Vehicle Association of Shandong Province, emphasized that the delegation includes representatives of various enterprises that specialise in the production of vehicles, components and spare parts. "Our main goal is to master the Russian market, find our niche in it, and establish product deliveries.
“When studying the market, we encountered a number of problems, so we are interested in contacts with logistics companies and local car dealers," said the representative of the Chinese delegation. He asked the MCCI to assist in forming a list of requirements for foreign companies that want to enter the Russian market with their products. The Head of the delegation also handed over a catalog of products manufactured by the represented companies.
At the end of the plenary session, networking took place, during which representatives of Chinese and Russian companies exchanged information and business cards.