VIII Joint Meeting of the Russian-Arab Business Council in Moscow

VIII Jubilee Joint Meeting of the Russian-Arab Business Council, in which statesmen and members of both Russian and Arab parts of the Council took part, was held in Moscow, Russia, on October 22-23.  The Meeting was carried out during the First Arab Exhibition in Moscow “Arabia-Expo”.  The Meeting was opened by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov who spoke on behalf of the President of Russia Dmitriy Medvedev.  In his introductory speech Mr. Lavrov underlined Russia’s great interest in strengthening trade and economic relations with Arab countries.  The other speakers at the meeting were as follows:

•    President of Russian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, academician Mr. Evgeniy Primakov;
•    Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Mr. Sergey Lavrov;
•    President of the General Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture Mr. Adnan Kassar;
•    Chairman of the Russian part of the Russian-Arab Business Council, Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Sistema” Mr. Vladimir Evtushenkov;
•    Minister of Industry of the Republic of Lebanon Mr. Gazi Zueitar;
•    Minister of Foreign Trade of the Kingdom of Morocco Mr. Abdel Latif Maazuz;
•    Deputy Minister of Trade of the Republic of Iraq Mrs. Suweiba Mahmud Zah Nakh Nag.

All speakers noted the importance of Russian-Arab trade and economic relations, the necessity of its strengthening and optimal usage of existing resources and potential.  They also noted that Russia had been bound with Arab countries by the relations of friendship and partnership, and Russia had always supported the rights of Arabs.  The participants spoke about the role of the Russian-Arab Business Council in activating and strengthening those relations.  In the period of the Meeting there was held the opening ceremony of the First Arab Exhibition in Moscow “Arabia-Expo”, which was attended by the representatives of 18 Arab countries, as well as some Russian companies and organizations.
The following people also took the word at the Meeting:  the heads of Arab delegations and sponsors of the exhibition, President of the Union of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce Mr. Jaafar Rasul Jaafar, Chairman of the General Union of Egypt Chambers of Commerce Mr. Muhammad Abdel Fattah Al-Misri, Board Member of “Solidere” (exhibition sponsor) Mr. Abdurrahman Al-Sulh, CEO “AFG Capital Management” (exhibition sponsor) Mr. Kevin Gua King Ling.
In the framework of the Meeting there were carried out meetings of three work groups dedicated to Russian-Arab cooperation in such fields as banking, water resources and electric energy, high technologies and telecommunications, information and innovation technologies, tourism development, organization and carrying out exhibitions and conferences.  The participants of the Meeting agreed that despite the fact that trade and economic relations between Russia and Arab countries had developed greatly, both side had not used the existing potential in full. During the discussions both Arab and Russian businessmen expressed their readiness to develop and activate the relations on the basis of mutual benefit.
As a result of the discussions and the expressed suggestions, the participants released the following communiqué:
First:  The participants underlined the necessity to work on the activation of two-side trade exchange by setting up appropriate motivation for businessmen and by increasing the number of visits of officials and businessmen.
Second:  The participants noted the efforts made for the organization of the First Arab Exhibition “Arabia-Expo” that was held in Moscow on October 22-24, 2008, and underlined its importance as the large-scale Russian-Arab event aimed at contributing to the development of economic relations and mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and Arab countries.  It was also noted that the number of the participants of the exhibition from both Russian and Arab side was big.  The participants expressed their interest in making such exhibitions annual.
Third:  The participants suggested enhancing the work on establishing two-side Russian-Arab business councils so that all Arab countries are involved due to the important role of such councils in particular fields, especially in the field of investment, in the framework of the realization of joint projects and usage of Russian investments first of all in such spheres as high technologies, banking, oil and gas complex, and in other spheres that are vitally important for both sides, like water desalination and purification, petrochemistry, metallurgy, heavy industry, production of chemical fertilizers, woodworking, leather production, shipbuilding (as well as building of catching trawlers and fishing equipment), cable production, production of blocks for housing, productions of cars and other vehicles.
Forth:  The participants set the goals to attract Russian investments into the development of telecommunications and information technologies, to realize business data exchange, and support the simplified process of entry and departure for people, as well as the conveyance of goods.
Fifth:  The participants underlined the necessity to encourage realization of joint projects in power engineering – both in its leading sectors and in the sphere of service, particularly in the spheres of storing, transportation, and processing of oil; the necessity to use the experience of Russian companies in gas exploration, and the necessity to aim at the stability on oil and gas world markets.
Sixth:  The participants set the task to encourage cooperation in the fields of science, technology, as well as to support and promote organization of scientific research, use the existing professional communities and highly qualified personnel, develop partnership in the fields of high education, scientific research, and training.
Seventh:  The participants put forward the task to constantly coordinate the activities in the field of cooperation between Russia and Arab countries in order to reach stability on oil markets and in order to preserve reasonable prices for oil, which would meet the demands of its producers and at the same time satisfy the interests of industrially developed countries that consume oil – that would contribute to the worldwide economic development.
Eighth:  The participants noted the important role of the work aimed at the strengthening of cooperation between the organizations that are involved in product standardization and quality in Russia and Arab countries in order to reach mutual agreement on standards, which would simplify the Russian import of Arab manufactured products.
Ninth:  The participants underlined the necessity to continue working on the realization of the project of building “Arab Center” in Moscow.