Singapore, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 - Business ties between Singapore and Russia were given a boost today with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and Russian Business Incubator (RBI) in conjunction with the official launch of a RBI in Singapore.
The SBF-RBI cooperation agreement was signed by SBF CEO, Mr. Teng Theng Dar and the CEO of RBI, Mr. Sergey Obrezanov. It was witnessed by members of the Singapore business community and a high level Russian delegation of business leaders and government officials here on a visit to promote bilateral trade and business ties.
The first Russian business incubator outside its borders, RBI will pave the way for increased trade, economic, technology and investment linkages between Russia and Singapore. A key focus is on science, technology and engineering capabilities and products that have potential in the international markets.
The presence of RBI in Singapore and the MOU are aimed at facilitating the exchange of trade delegations and experts, economic cooperation, information sharing, and exploration of business opportunities that would spur bilateral trade between companies from both countries.
From February 2009, members of SBF can look forward to a series of seminars and dialogue sessions, jointly organized by SBF and RBI. These sessions will help to increase awareness of the Russian market, with focus on trade and exports, green and renewable energy, nanotechnology, innovative medicine, and innovative infrastructure. (See below Roadmap and Proposed Schedule of activities in 2009 for more details.)
The launch of the RBI is just one of the business networking events and seminars organized by SBF to promote business opportunities between Russia and Singapore. Previous efforts include business missions to Moscow in June 2008 and St. Petersburg in September 2005. SBF remains committed to playing a pivotal role in facilitating the market development efforts of Singapore companies in Russia.
"Targeted at bringing innovations from Russia to international markets through Singapore, this Project is an innovation in itself. The Russian Business Incubator represents an excellent opportunity for Singapore-based companies to not only improve their chances of success in Russia but also tap on Russia's strengths in technology to gain long term competitive advantage in the marketplace," said Mr Teng.
Mr Teng added that the Russian Federation is looking attractive as a trade and investment destination with good growth potential for Singapore businesses. He cited a survey conducted by SBF's Europe Desk in late 2008 on Singapore's business community's sentiments towards Russia which indicated that 65% of the 63 respondents polled rated business opportunities in Russia to be 'good' and 'very good'. 67% of the respondents were keen to pursue business opportunities in Russia and approximately 15% of respondents are already 'doing business in Russia'.
Mr Obrezanov said, "This cooperative agreement and the presence of RBI in Singapore will facilitate the pursuit of business exchange cooperation, information sharing and
exploration of business opportunities for the Singapore business community. Our intention is to facilitate two way business; first is to use Singapore as a springboard where Russian companies can cooperate with Singapore based companies to venture into this region and second to help Singaporean companies better identify and tap on the opportunities present
in Russian markets."
The Russian Ambassador to Singapore, Mr. H. E. Andrey N. Rozhkov, who graced the launch
said the event marks "further progress in Russia-Singapore trade and economic as well as in Science and Technology cooperation". He expressed hope that SBF's experience and broad membership will bring mutual benefit to both parties.
"From the very beginning of the creation of RBI in Singapore - the first of such Russian establishments abroad - we considered it to be the essential project of Public-Private Partnership routing the R&D commercialization, in which Singapore has good expertise. Now it turns out that RBI's sphere of activity will not be limited to bringing top-edge Russian technologies and researchers to Singapore, but include wider scope of business like joint projects and rendering professional consultancy services to Singapore and Russian companies, "said Mr. Rozhkov.
Indeed the signing of the MOU will further pave the way for Singapore's trade relations with Russia. The ambassador noted that the volume of bilateral trade from 2005 to 2007 has more than doubled with an 80% growth and highlighted that the volume in the first 11 months of 2008 as compared to 2007. He observed with keen interest that bilateral exchanges have expanded beyond joint ventures among the economic bigwigs with small and medium enterprises such as Food Empire contributing their share in the Russian market.
The RBI was first established in 2007 based on the interstate Protocol of intentions signed between EDB of Singapore, RosSEZ as well as FASIE. It serves as a gateway for Russian enterprise and R&D organizations to expand into Singapore and to the international markets. It aims to support the international commercialization and export of Russian technologies, promote Russian R&D and facilitate Russian enterprise to grow and access international markets through Singapore.
For more information on upcoming RBI-related events, please contact:
Renee Koh,
Assistant Director, Americas, Middle East, Africa, Europe and Oceania
Singapore Business Federation
Tel: 6827 6866
Annexe 1
ROADMAP & PROPOSED SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES 2009
Collaboration between SBF and RBI: to build awareness and generate interest in the Russian Market
- 1. 18 February 2009
Topic: Nanotechnology and biotechnologies
Venue: SBF Seminar Room 2
- 2. May 2009
Topic: Green and Renewable Energy
- 3. July 2009
Topic: Exporter's toolkit for the Russian Market
- 4. September 2009
Topic: Advanced and innovative medicine with a special accent on oncology
- 5. November 2009
Topic: Innovative Infrastructure
*exact date/time & topics to be confirmed
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