Russia's top tycoons on Tuesday expressed hope that US President Barack Obama's visit to Russia would help boost lacklustre business ties as Moscow and Washington seek to warm up diplomatic relations. A host of Russian and US companies are aiming to capitalise on a "reset" of political ties expected from Obama's two-day meetings with Russian leaders at a parallel business forum.
Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire tycoon and head of the Renova group, said at the forum that while there were some positive examples in Russia-US business relations, that co-operation has not become systematic yet. "We are going around in circles all the time. Every time, US business has to discover Russia for itself anew and vice versa," he said.
Even five years ago however a business forum on US-Russian mutual investment would have been "out of place," he told the conference. At 36 billion dollars (26 billion euros) at the end of last year, according to US statistics, bilateral trade turnover is "despicably low, while talking about mutual investment is simply shameful," Vekselberg said.
His fellow tycoons expressed similar views. "The tensions of the recent times have not allowed us to carry out large projects in oil and gas," said Vagit Alekperov, head of Russia's largest private oil company Lukoil.
He poured praise on Obama, calling him a forward-looking man. "Today many expect more decisive action from him," Alekperov added. Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's richest man, declined to comment about his expectations for the future of Russian-US ties, but indicated he was optimistic. "We do not live by expectations. We live in real life."
Despite several high-profile acquisitions in the United States, Russian businesses have long complained of barriers in that country, while US firms say corruption and bureaucracy sour the business climate in Russia. Steel tycoon Vladimir Lisin said the US government offered "absolutely inadequate support" for companies in the metals sector. Obama's two-day visit to Russia has seen over 1.5 billion of deals, including a commitment by soft drinks company PepsiCo to invest 1 billion dollars into its Russian operations over the next three years.
US farm machinery company John Deer has said it will invest 500 million dollars in the country over the next years. On Monday, President Dmitry Medvedev and Obama agreed to create a high-level commission to boost economic and trade ties.
That commission would be similar to the so-called Gore-Chernomyrdin commission that promoted bilateral ties in the 1990s and was named after Vice President Al Gore and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, officials have said. Russian Economics Minister Elvira Nabiullina said the new commission will "allow to considerably improve the dynamics of our trade relations and our investment co-operation."
"We believe it's high time to invest in Russia," she said. Vladimir Yakunin, head of Russian Railways, injected however a note of sober realism, saying geopolitics will always be a factor in international affairs and will therefore affect businesses. "So companies should not relax," he said.
Comments
Comments are closed.