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President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, spoke at the seminar held by Inteza Bank and Russia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry Russia and Europe: new challenges for economic cooperation and overcoming the pandemic.
The event was hosted by Roscongress Foundation, the Association Knowing Eurasia, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs in Russia.
In his speech, Alexander Shokhin stressed that the EU has always been one of the main investors in Russia despite an understandable decrease by 21.3% in 2021, in comparison with the previous year. He also underscored that European and Russian business communities always facilitated cooperation between the European states and Russia. He called for focusing on positive developments and adhering to the principles of pragmatic, rational partnerships. The European Union will remain the most important trading partner and the largest source of foreign investment in Russia, an important technological partner. Russian companies remain interested in expanding their cooperation with the EU. European companies are also expanding their presence in the Russian market, and Russian companies are looking for new opportunities in terms of an access to EU market and investment opportunities, said Alexander Shokhin.
Another speaker, Sergei Katyrin, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, stressed that any discussion of current economic issues is connected with the issue of consequences of the pandemic. Yet, despite political challenges and the pandemic, it is necessary to think about the development of economic relations.
The Italian Ambassador to Russia, Pasquale Terrachano, also spoke stressing the need to make every effort in bringing Russians and Europeans tourists closer. He called for simplifying the process of obtaining the EU visas for Russian travelers, saying that this is especially important for young people.
The seminar was also attended by Veronika Nikishina, Director General of the Russian Export Center, President of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce Vincenzo Trani, Chairman of the Board of the Russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade Mattias Shepp, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Development Bank Tigran Sargsyan and others.