The Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted a meeting for a delegation from the Kingdom of Thailand, headed by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom to the Russian Federation, Mr. Sasivat Wongsinsawat.
"This year, we celebrate 125 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries”, - said Mr. Vladimir Platonov, the President of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “We have an opportunity to establish business contacts between the businessmen directly, but when the communication goes through an embassy or through a trade mission, such contacts are usually more effective". The Head of the Chamber told the guests about the development of small and medium-sized business in the capital, as well as the Institute of the Self-employed. Currently, there are 760 thousand SME entities, another million Muscovites work as self-employed. And its significance is not only in goods, services and jobs. This amounts to about 25% of Moscow's budget,” Mr. Platonov emphasized.
Responding, Mr. Sasiwat Wongsinsawat said that he was surprised by the information about the extent of development of small, medium and micro businesses in Moscow. "My mission is to promote cooperation between such entities," Mr. Ambassador explained. He noted that our countries, while having a long history of diplomatic relations, are not well informed about each other’s commercial opportunities. "And this should be taken into account before starting to further develop cooperation. Entrepreneurs of the two countries do not really understand the rules by which the business of Russia and Thailand is organized, they are not fully aware of the business standards of each country," - said the Head of the delegation.
Mr. Wongsinsawat emphasized that "Russia is not in isolation. There are many friendly countries, and Thailand is one of them. And now, he said, is a very favourable time for the development of new, mutually beneficial relations, the establishment of exports and imports of products that both sides need.
In the course of the discussion, the two sides agreed that the hospitality industry is a good basis for establishing business ties. Before covid, Thailand was visited by about 1.5 million Russians, and there is interest from the Thai citizens to visit Russia as well. "Moscow has changed the concept of city development” - said Mr. Platonov. - “Now it is a comfortable city to be enjoyed by its inhabitants and guests of Moscow.”
According to the Vice President of the MCCI, Mr. Suren Vardanyan, Russia and Thailand have good prospects for the development of cooperation in areas such as pharmaceuticals, food industry, green economy, electronics, the supply of spare parts for cars and other equipment. "We are ready to fully support the registration of medicines in Russia. There are companies among the MCCI members that are professionally engaged in this activity," said the Chamber's Vice President.
The parties agreed to prepare lists of areas and industries in which both Moscow and Thai entrepreneurs are interested. In addition, the work will be continued to inform the business communities of the two countries on the peculiarities of the Russian andThailand markets.
Mr. Platonov described the meeting as very open and frank. “We got to know each other better," he said, "and will continue to create conditions so that the citizens of our countries will also get to know each other better.