Within the scope of the Days of Moscow in the UAE (December 2-10, 2021), the conference of the Moscow City Government was held in Dubai. Presenting the city's major achievements in recent years, Mr. Vladimir Platonov, the President of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, took part in the conference.
The Chairman of the Moscow City Duma, Mr. Alexey Shaposhnikov, noted in his report that Moscow and Dubai are one of the most dynamically developing megacities of the world.
In the post-industrial world, he noted, the main focus is on innovative technologies and the main struggle is for qualified and creative human resources. The speaker described the key development goals of the Russian capital and spoke, in particular, about the housing renovation program adopted by the city, which provides for the resettlement of more than one million people to comfortable habitats; about bringing former industrial zones into circulation, noting that this project is of interest to foreign investors.
He introduced the conference participants to the basics of the capital's environmental policy ("Moscow can be unequivocally called one of the greenest cities of the world," he stressed). The speaker also noted that the development of the creative industries in the city positively diversifies the economy by increasing the volume of non-resource production and its subsequent export. He dwelled in detail on the development of industry in the capital, which employs one million people (“Today, Moscow produces everything: from clothes to space engines"), also pointed out the stability of the city’s budget, touched in detail on the themes of metropolitan tourism, culture, restaurant business, sports, urban digital services (according to him, "digital technologies are used to improve living standards for residents and guests of the capital"). At the end of the report, Mr. Shaposhnikov said that Moscow has applied for the right to host EXPO-2030.” and there is still yet much to do in terms of providing accommodations for it.
The General Director of the “Dubai Investment Development Agency”, Mr. Fahad Al Gerghavi, pointed out that the Middle East market now covers 2.5 billion people and “ would like to welcome Russian and specifically Moscow businesses to the market. He stressed that Moscow, with its quality of life, is now a popular tourist destination for the UAE residents and spoke about the large number of existing opportunities for small and medium enterprises in the UAE, noting that there are many specifically created agencies, councils and federations involved with it. Mr. Gergawi concluded his report by wishing Moscow to gain the right to host EXPO 2030.
The Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow, Mr. Sergey Cheremin, at the beginning of his speech showed the audience a video about Moscow. He recalled that at the Moscow International Forum "City of Education”, held in 2019, "the most impressive was the delegation from the UAE, which amounted to 600 people - then it was decided to maximise our relations with the UAE."
Он рассказал о состоявшемся накануне торжественном открытии в ОАЭ Российского павильона, в котором Москва презентует свои достижения. По словам Сергея Черемина, российская столица старается изучать лучшие мировые практики, внедряет новейшие инновационные решения во всех сферах жизни. В первом квартале нынешнего года в город поступило около $20 млрд прямых иностранных инвестиций, что свидетельствует о создании в нем комфортных условий для предпринимателей. Он обратил внимание собравшихся, что позитивные изменения в российской столице за последние 10 лет высоко оценены различными международными рейтингами: так, Международный транспортный конгресс в 2019 г. назвал Москву мировым лидером в развитии общественного транспорта; по версии Financial Times, российская столица вошла в пятерку самых инвестиционно привлекательных городов мира, и т.д.
According to Sergey Cheremin, the Russian capital is trying to study the world's best practices, implementing the latest innovative solutions in all areas of life. In the first quarter of this year the city received about $20 billion in direct foreign investment, which indicates the creation of a comfortable environment for entrepreneurs. He drew attention to the fact that the positive changes in the Russian capital over the past 10 years are highly appreciated by various international rankings: for example, the International Transport Congress in 2019 called Moscow a world leader in the development of public transport, according to the Financial Times, the Russian capital was included in the top five most investment-attractive cities in the world.
The speaker also drew the audience's attention to the breakthrough development of tourism in the city: 11 years ago Moscow was visited by 5 million tourists a year, in 2019, their number increased fivefold.
The President of Annual Investment, Mr. Daoud Al Shezawi, noted that the close cooperation between Moscow and the UAE has lasted for more than 11 years, and a large number of Russian companies seeks to open their representative offices in the UAE - "it is the shared accomplishment of our governments. The speaker told about the investment policy of the two countries and invited Russian partners to the thematic meeting "Smart City" within the framework of EXPO-2020.
The Deputy General Director of "Mosinzhproekt" for international relations and prospective venues, Mr. Maurice Leroy, spoke about the projects he works on in the Russian capital, noting that in10 years Moscow has "added" more than 200 km of new metro lines and "there is a unique system of urban development in place". In particular, the speaker noted that Mosinzhproekt's experience in developing the capital is very interesting, stressing that Moscow and Dubai need to share the best practices of cities’ development.
“Here, representatives of legislative and executive authorities talked a lot about how Moscow has changed - and these changes were brought about by the work of Muscovites and their business community," - said Mr.Vladimir Platonov, the President of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He reminded that Russia and Moscow are the “nascent builders" of the market economy - it is only 30 years old. "And during those 30 years, the entrepreneurs, thanks to the conditions, created by the city’s authorities, have built this beautiful city", - noted the speaker. A great role in this process, according to him, plays the extant cooperation with the Chambers of Commerce of other countries - and the associative cooperation with the UAE constitutes a priority within the scope of the international activities of the MCCI, which maintains close ties with the leadership of the Chambers of Commerce of Dubai, Sharjah and the Abu Dhabi emirates.
«МТПП надеется, что наше тесное и активное сотрудничество с ОАЭ будет продолжаться и крепнуть в таких важнейших сферах, как здравоохранение, агропромышленный сектор, инновационные технологии, искусственный интеллект, логистика, вопросы локализации производств и совместное продвижение на рынки регионов». Спикер отметил, что благодаря активной работе Комиссии МТПП по внешнеэкономическому сотрудничеству с партнерами в ОАЭ в период коронавирусной инфекции был организован ряд мероприятий по презентации торгово-экономического и инвестиционного потенциала ОАЭ. «Мы можем проводить онлайн (online what? Meetings, seminars or…?)) и выставки, которые помогают предпринимателям наших стран лучше узнать друг друга».
“The MCCI hopes that our close and active cooperation with the UAE will continue and strengthen in such important areas as healthcare, agro-industrial sector, innovative technologies, artificial intelligence, logistics, issues of localization of production and joint promotion to the markets of the regions." The speaker noted that thanks to the active work of the MCCI Commission on Foreign Economic Cooperation with partners in the UAE during the coronavirus infection, a number of events were organized to present the trade, economic and investment potential of the UAE. "We can hold online meetings, seminars and exhibitions, which help entrepreneurs of our countries to get to know each other better."
In 2021, in spite of the epidemiological situation, it was possible to host several delegations from the UAE in Moscow. Mr. Platonov talked about the work of Mr. Alexey Busev, the Chairman of the Commission, in preparation for the visit of the MCCI delegation to the UAE on November 21-26, 2021. "The visit was very busy, - said the speaker. - We managed to hold a number of meetings with international and interregional partners and take part in events on sustainable development, including the sites of EXPO-2020... Coincidentally, during our visit to Dubai, the World CCIs Forum was held there, where we discussed the most important issues, aimed at the development of entrepreneurship in our countries and the implementation of combined business projects.”
The speaker reminded that Moscow put forward its candidacy to host EXPO 2030 and as part of the promotion of this bid, the Moscow delegation, together with the delegation of the Chamber of Commerce of Russia, headed by Mr. Sergey Katyrin, took part in negotiations with their colleagues from several countries. Mr. Platonov noted that all of them positively assessed Moscow's preparations for the upcoming vote. "We hope that the application of our city will be supported by you too!", - the speaker addressed the participants of the event and invited them to the Russian capital.
Mr. Busev, as the Executive Director of the Russian-Emirati Business Council, congratulated his Arab colleagues on the excellent organization of EXPO 2020 and invited the attendees to visit the trade mission of the Moscow’s companies in the Russian pavilion. He spoke about the areas on which the Business Council has focused its work and the events it has organized recently. Trade indicators between Russia and the UAE have recently significantly increased. "We focus on three sectors - food products, tourism, and IT industry," the speaker noted. He told the audience about the joint events, organized by Moscow and the UAE in the past months.
The second plenary session of the conference opened with a speech by Ms. Gulnara Agamova, the Director General of the Agency for Creative Industries. She spoke about the activities of the Agency, created by the Moscow government a year and a half ago - its goals and areas of work, educational and financial assistance to entrepreneurs, events to promote their creative initiatives.
Mr. Anton Nazarkin, the Director for International Development of “VisionLabs LLC”, told about the history of the company, its developmental prospects and its products - facial recognition technology in the subway, license plate recognition technology, etc.
The Advisor to the Director General of the International Medical Cluster Foundation, Mr. Raul Rakhmatullin, spoke about the health projects the Foundation is working on, its cooperation with investors and future prospects.
The Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Tourism Committee, Ms. Tatyana Sharshavitskaya, showed the audience a video about the capital's achievements in the field of tourism. She described a new trend - travel "Live like a local!", which has been gaining momentum in recent years. According to her, because of it, not only the center of the capital, but also the peripheral areas are developing. The speaker disclosed the opportunities that Moscow is ready to provide for tourists currently, including special offers, such as a sail on a yacht, a helicopter flight, a visit to the racetrack.
She mentioned the development of “gastronomic” tourism in the capital - 69 restaurants in Moscow are singled out in the famous Michelin guide. The speaker told about further digitalization of travel industry, allowing travellers to form individual itineraries, about Russ Pass digital marketplace - a kind of "travel constructor", which can be used to design trips around Russia and Moscow. In January 2022, the Committee plans a road-show during the Tourism Week in the UAE, said the speaker.
Mr. Alexei Kalachyov, the Director General of the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization of the Moscow Expo 2030 Bid Committee, reminded that this year is symbolic, as it marks the 170th anniversary of EXPO exhibitions around the world. He spoke about Moscow's potential as a candidate to host Expo 2030 and revealed the reasons for the nomination - historical, geographical and economic. "We will overcome all obstacles along the way," the speaker said confidently, "and are ready to offer guests of Expo 2030 an unforgettable experience.”
At the end of the conference, its moderator, the journalist and TV presenter, Mr. Daniel Hawkins, expressed confidence that many of those present in the hall will visit Moscow in the coming years. He also noted the many opportunities for cooperation between private companies, as well as government agencies in Moscow and the UAE. "I think today's exchange will serve to develop relations between the two countries," he concluded.
The event was held with the support of the Moscow Government and the Moscow Department of Economic Policy and Development