On October 14th, a meeting was held between the Head of the Department for International and Inerregional Cooperation of the MCCI, Mr. Yuri Morozov, the Chairman of the Commission of the MCCI for Foreign Economic Cooperation with partners in Switzerland, Mr. Alexander Klepov, the Head of the Department of Economics, Finance and Science of the Embassy of Switzerland, Mr. Julien Thoeni, and the Deputy Head of the Chamber of Commerce of Geneva, responsible for international relations, Mr. Vincent Subilia.
Mr. Morozov presented the MCCI’s scope of activities, particularly the work of industrial guilds and the MCCI committees and commissions for cooperation with different countries, which concentrate the focus on businesses efforts. He also talked about ways of providing support services to international trade. Mr. Morozov said that Moscow is open for investments : the capital has adopted the laws for aiding and protecting investments and industry. As a strategic investor, under the designation of the existing law, an investor, willing to invest more than 1 billion rubles, will get tax breaks on income, beneficial tax rates on transportation and land, as well as safeguards against non-commercial risks.
According to Mr. Morozov, representative offices of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce will be established in various countries like South Korea, the UAE, Italy, Germany. The MCCI conducts a series of business events abroad for the purpose of introducing and presenting the city of Moscow, organizing business trips and arranging B2B-meetings.
Mr. Klepov reminded those present that a close partnership has been established with other Swiss cantons - in particular, the CCI of the Tessin canton. The Mayor of the city of Lugano paid an official visit to Moscow but two years ago.
Mr. Thoeni noted that Moscow is developing rapidly at an impressive rate. He stressed that Switzerland sees tremendous opportunities for development of economic cooperation between the Swiss cantons and Russia. Mr. Subilia noted that Geneva is at once the most typical Swiss city as well an international one, as there is a concentration of headquarters of many world organizations and companies, including those from Russia. The city of Geneva does not possess specific natural resources, so its advantages lie in the easy accessibility and a high quality of services.
The Chamber of Commerce of Geneva also specializes in the issuance of certificates of origin of goods and offers arbitration and commercial mediation assistance. The Geneva Chamber brings together 2,500 companies that employ half of all the residents of Geneva.
Mr. Subilia stated that the work on cooperation with Russia is conducted at the Geneva Chamber of Commerce on regular basis - in partnership with the Swiss-Russian Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Subilia took the initiative and proposed organizing joint projects directly with the MCCI. He noted that Russian companies are developing a significant R & D sector, which elicits a keen interest in Swiss partners. The sides also discussed the localization and import substitution - the Swiss companies Novartis and Nestle have already began the localization of production in Russia under the conditions of sanctions.
The Swiss side has initiated the signing of a memorandum on cooperation, the text of which will be worked out soon. The two sides also plan to discuss possible joint ventures.