On the 6th of July the 7th Business Forum was opened in the Marriott Royal Aurora Hotel.
The annual Forum has become a traditional meeting place for representatives of the business community, government authorities and the financial community. Direct dialogue between business and authorities, exchange of views on the most current and pressing issues, seeking mutually beneficial ways of financing the real sector have made this event one of the most popular discussion platforms.
Participation in plenary session business-forum has been accepted by the President of the Financial university of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Vice-President of the International guild of financiers, Alla Grjaznova, the Deputy Minister of finance of the Russian Federation, Sergey Storchak, the Deputy Head of the Department of monetary and credit policy of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Alexander Polonsky, the adviser of the President of the Russian Federation concerning regional economic integration, a member of the National financial advice of the Bank of Russia, Sergey Glazyev, and other experts.
At the plenary session Mr Vladimir Platonov, the President of the MCCI, took the stand speaking on the topic devoted to development and implementation of the national strategy of support of the real economic sector.
He noted: "It is no secret that successful business development occurs in conditions of competent permanent legislative regulation. Only in the last 2 years, the Moscow city Duma has adopted more than 20 statutes for the city of Moscow, directly affecting business development and creating beneficial conditions for the city. These include fundamental laws on industrial and investment policy. We made a big step in the development of a forward-looking, progressive and convenient patent system of taxation for individual entrepreneurs, which covers almost a hundred commercial activities and we are working on its further enhancement.
In his speech Vladimir Platonov outlined the main strategic priorities of the Chamber for the next few years: "The first priority is to popularize public measures to support small and medium-sized businesses. In Moscow, there exist federal and municipal government programs, supporting small and medium-sized businesses, providing a whole range of measures and institutional services, as well as financing information. However, many businesses are simply not aware of their existence or do not know how to use them.
The Moscow CCI, using its resources and building on the existing social structures of its professional guilds and committees, aims to raise the awareness and maximize opportunities created by the city for the business community in order to build and develop business. We are talking about new and useful models of taxation (patent system), the possibilities for support of innovation sector (business incubators, science parks, coworking centers), guarantee funds, access to debt finance through development of microfinance, social entrepreneurship support structures, etc.
The second priority of the Chamber is its integration in the system of support for small and average business as a consulting agent, assisting businesses in obtaining this support. As an example, we started to promote our new instrument: a state loan-incentive program of providing credit for small and medium-sized businesses that implement investment projects in priority sectors of the economy (industry, construction, agriculture, transport and communication, tourism, etc.)- "6.5 Program".
Currently, we are embarking on a project with major Russian banks - Sberbank, Alfa-Bank, VTB. In the past week alone, the MCCI was petitioned for support in obtaining loans under the auspices of this program by two members of our Chamber. We are helping them in preparing documentation and conducting negotiations with the banks. They are expected to receive the first loans at the beginning of July of this year.
And the third priority we envision is our task in forming, on the Chamber’s basis, the system of support for start-up entrepreneurs. This may be implemented either through the use of state support, or pure market mechanisms. For example, we are looking for funding opportunities, offered to start-ups by the more experienced and successful members of the Chamber and plan to attract venture capital opportunities that exist to perform just such functions.
We are engaged in establishing a system of state support for start-up entrepreneurs, actively cooperating with the city authorities and creating legislative opportunities to devise and develop their own businesses, participating in creation and promotion of the city’s convenient patent tax system, so that with our participation there will exist an opportunity to enjoy a two-year tax abatement for the newly created small enterprises".
Vladimir Platonov, answering questions of participants at the plenary meeting, noted that the repetition of the Singapore miracle in Russia is possible only as a result of long and systematic effort. He urged to work more on the " Russian miracle", the potential for which is huge. Also, the President of the MCCI recommended business representatives to ask for advice and any other assistance from the Chamber, including state financing.