On September 25, the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry held a business forum on cooperation between Moscow and Budapest, timed to coincide with the Days of Budapest in the Russian capital.
The organizers were the Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations of Moscow (DVMS) and the MCCI.
As the Minister of the Government of Moscow, the Head of the DVMS, Mr. Sergei Cheremin, said in his opening speech, after the Mayors of the two capitals signed a program on cooperation in almost all spheres of the economy and public relations, there is an increase in mutually beneficial contacts. This concerns medicine, construction, development of public transportation, healthcare, education, environmental protection, preservation of cultural heritage.
As for business relations, the Minster said that in the first half of 2018 the growth of trade turnover between Moscow residents and Hungarian partners has increased by 30 percent. "Dozens of Hungarian companies work in Moscow. I hope that the growth of not only trade turnover, but also investment cooperation will go on. The Moscow government will continue to provide them with all possible assistance, "stressed the Head of the Department.
The Hungarian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia, Mr. Norbert Konkoj, noted that last November Moscow Days in Budapest were a success. "This year we represent Budapest to the Russian public in Moscow. Everyone has their own Budapest: some admire architecture, others - baths and cuisine, and others come to see the famous “ruin” pubs.
Our government pays great attention to the development of economic relations between our countries and cities, "said the Ambassador. He expressed confidence that the current business forum will contribute to the development of mutually beneficial cooperation and wished the entrepreneurs from both the Russian and Hungarian sides successful negotiations.
The President of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Vladimir Platonov, recalled that back in 1992, an abiding Cooperation Agreement was signed between the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Budapest, and "this document has been helping the development of economic relations and business contacts between our cities for more than a decade. All our work shows that, despite all political circumstances and sanctions, people's diplomacy and cooperation of entrepreneurs do not subscribe to borders or barriers," the President of the Moscow CCI said and wished the participants of the forum successful work.
The Honorary President of the Chamber of Commerce of Budapest and the Hungarian-Russian Committee with the Chamber of Commerce of Hungary, Mr. Imre Toth (incidentally, it was he, who signed the agreement in 1992), stated: "Moscow is one of the most vigorously developing cities in the world. And, when we signed the Agreement 25 years ago, we set the vector and dynamics for the development of cooperation. "In his speech, Mr. Toth singled out several main spheres of the economy, in which cooperation between our two cities can be most successful.
These are, first, nuclear energy (including the construction of nuclear reactors), metro construction, as well as investment. "To implement any idea, one needs a good project and funding. We have many good projects, including joint ones with Russian companies, but there is an acute need for investments, "said Mr. Toth.
The Director of the LLC "Polyus", the Vice-President of the Hungarian-Russian Committee with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hungary, Mr. Laszlo Horvath, presented prospects for investment cooperation between Moscow and Budapest. He noted that Hungary is interested in cooperation in such sectors of economy as health care, housing and communal services, garbage processing, water disposal, energy saving.
“Currently, the priority project is the nuclear project" Paksh-2 ", the cost of which is 12.5 billion euro. Only 40 percent of the work can be done by Hungarian entrepreneurs.” he emphasized. Therefore, Russian companies have good opportunities for working together with us on this project.
The main topic of discussion at the forum was the development of the transportation system of the two megacities. The experience of the Moscow Metro in the development of new services and work to improve the quality of serving passengers was described, the prospects for the enhancement of the Budapest subway were outlined, successes in the organization of taxi transportation in Moscow, an exchange of experience in the organization of parking space, as well as public transport and road network of two cities also took place.
At the end of the official part of the forum, B2B negotiations took place between the entrepreneurs of the two countries.
The Budapest Days in Moscow are held within the framework of developing partnerships and implementing the program of cooperation between the Moscow Government and the Mayor's Office of Budapest for 2016-2019, signed by the mayors of the two capitals, Mr. Sergey Sobyanin and Mr. Istvan Tarlos.