British Finance as the Mirror of Russian Modernisation

11.06.2009 — Analysis

British business maintains a "true English" scenario for the integration into the Urals economy. Low profile, almost silently, at a leisurely pace. Ms Jenny Lock, the British Consul General in Ekaterinburg, has expressed her views for the future of cooperation between the Foggy Albion and the Urals Federal District in an exclusive interview to Pavel Kober, a RusBusinessNews reporter.

- Miss Consul, many British companies have been operating in the Urals market for a long time. Have they developed any proprietary methods for the promotion of their products in our region? Are there any specific peculiarities in the cooperation between Great Britain and the Urals?

- To promote their products into a market most companies will use both generally recognised promotion methods and specific approaches, which vary depending on the product and company's strategic objectives. There are specific features of doing business in Russia, but I cannot think of any differences in these when doing business in the Urals. Obviously, distances are longer and therefore transportation costs are higher if one has to travel on business or transport the goods from/to the UK. On the other hand, the Urals region is a high end user market.

- How did the economic crisis influence the trade turnover between Great Britain and regions - subjects of the Russian Federations in the Urals? What are the most important problems, in your opinion?

- So far there have been no statistics quantifying the effect of the economic crisis on the commodity turnover between the UK and the Urals. It is likely there has been a decrease in both imports and exports from/to the UK. It is likely that limited access to low-interest and longer-term finance will effect imports of machinery, vehicles and other expensive equipment from the UK.

- In which sectors of the Urals economy, in your opinion, the participation of British companies is a priority? Could you point out the most significant projects which are scheduled for the implementation in the nearest future?

- For the UK companies the top priority sectors are financial, legal and other business related services, engineering, construction, water, chemistry, energy, environment protection and consumer goods.

Important projects to be implemented in the near future are:

• Mission and seminar "Water and Wastewater - Supply, Treatment and Drainage/Sewage", Perm, July 2009.
• Mission of the Chelyabinsk financial companies to London UK, September 2009.
• Mission to engineering exhibition EMO Milan Italy, October 2009.
• Mission on carbon abatement technologies, Birmingham UK, November 2009.
• Seminar on advanced manufacturing technologies, November/February, Nizhny Novgorod, 2009/2010.
• Seminars on strengthening human rights standards for people with mental health problems in Russian criminal judiciary and penitentiary system through application of positive experience of UK agencies and bodies.

- Which countries' companies are the major competition for the British business in the Urals? What exclusive advantages do companies from your country rely on in the competition?

- This greatly depends on the product. For example:

• Metal-cutting machine tools - Germany and Japan.
• Tools - Sweden.
• Construction machinery - USA, Japan.
• Design and architecture - France.
• Pharmaceuticals - France, Germany, USA.
• Agricultural machines - Germany, Netherlands, USA.
• Food and food processing - Netherlands, Denmark.
• Footwear and clothing - Italy, France

The main advantages of the UK products are high quality, efficiency, safety and reliability.