Welcome Remarks by Mr Teng Theng Dar, Chief Executive Officer, SBF, on January 14, 2009
at SBF Seminar Room 2, Level 21.
Your Excellency, Andrey Rozhkov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation;
Mr Sergey Obrezanov, Chief Executive Officer, Russian Business Incubator Futurus Pte Ltd.
Friends from Russia;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
1. Good Afternoon and welcome to the official launch of the Russian Business Incubator in Singapore & Networking Session.
2. We are very pleased to kick-start the year with the formal establishment of the working relationship with our esteemed partners, the Russian Business Incubator Futurus Pte Ltd.
3. This incubator is the first of its kind outside of Russia and the initiative is supported by the public and private sectors in both countries. This signifies the importance and potential for growth and deeper business relations.
4. We are honoured that Singapore was chosen as the 'home' to such an establishment as it clearly illustrates the confidence that the Russian businesses have in Singapore's network, capabilities and infrastructure.
5. Our businesses have traditionally been more familiar with the markets of Southeast Asia, China, Japan and the US. Against the backdrop of intensifying global competition, coupled with the challenges of economic slowdowns, there is clearly a greater need to seek out new long term opportunities in non-traditional markets.
6. Eastern Europe, in particular the Russian Federation is looking attractive as a trade and investment destination, and there's good potential for Singapore businesses to explore.
7. As a matter of fact, SBF's Europe desk polled the business community late last year on their business sentiments towards Russia. Of the 63 responses that were collected,
65% rated business opportunities in Russia to be 'good' and 'very good'.
67% of the respondents are keen to pursue business opportunities in Russia.
And approximately 15% are already 'Doing Business in Russia'.
8. Companies such as Wilma International, Food Empire and Tronic International that have taken the bold initiative in the earlier stages to engage or establish their businesses in Russia have seen their venture bore fruits. Just recently, we are further encouraged by the news of more success stories of Singapore companies in Russia.
9. Raffles International will open the luxurious 130-bedroom Raffles Moscow that is situated near the iconic Red Square in 2011 and Changi Airports International is in the final running to develop and operate the Pulkovo International Airport in St. Petersburg.
10. In conjunction with this landmark event, SBF will also be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with RBI to further strengthen the bilateral ties between Singapore and Russia.
11. 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.
12. Finally, I would like to extend our appreciation to all our partners, Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (SVCA), BANSEA and Singapore Manufacturers' Federation for providing us with such tremendous support for this event.
13. Face-to-face meetings like this are crucial to facilitating the exchange of ideas and information to strengthen social, cultural and economic ties, and create new frontiers for collaboration between businesses from Russia and Singapore.
14. With this, it is now my pleasure to invite Mr. Sergey Obrezanov CEO of Russian Business Incubator to address us.
Speech by Sergey Obrezanov, CEO, RBI "FUTURUS" PTE. LTD.
on January 14, 2009 at the Official Launch of RBI & MOU Signing Ceremony with
Singapore Business Federation
Dear colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honored to greet here today His Excellency Andrey Rozhkov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Singapore and Esteemed Mr. Teng Theng Dar, CEO of Singapore Business Federation
It is a great pleasure for me to participate in the ceremony which marks the completion of the first stage of implementing this challenging and unique mega Project - establishment of the Russian Business Incubator in Singapore. Targeted at bringing innovations from Russia to international markets this Project is an innovation itself. This is the first and the only time so far when such structure is created outside the Russian Federation and that is a challenge in itself. It will not be an exaggeration to say that this Project is a reflexion of a revolutionary change in attitudes and practices taking place in today's Russia, - the change from old clichés associated with former Soviet society to most modern standards of openness and globalization, the change from natural resources based economy to strategy of building economy of innovative development as pronounced by the Russian Government recently.
What makes it even more important is the fact that the initiative to establish Russian Business Incubator in Singapore financed at this stage 100% by private shareholders is at the same time 100% supported by the Russian and Singapore Governments which helped this initiative to materialize by signing interstate Protocol about two years ago. In fact Russian Business Incubator in Singapore is a rare example of a true and working Public Private Partnership which creates additional potential and perspectives for smooth and dynamic progress in the activities of RBI.
Our project enjoys as well an active support of the Russian business community which has been demonstrated by the fact that the Russian Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises has decided to be a signatory to above mentioned interstate Protocol. Also RBI has already been approached by a number of large scale Russian state and private corporations with cooperation proposals and related agreements are in the process of negotiations.
The potential scope of RBI activities spreads through various innovative and investment sectors and is truly breathtaking. Requested by Singapore partners we are already a part of promising programs envisaging export of innovations and modern technologies from Singapore to Russia. We are asked by many investors from Singapore to give advice on how to make business in Russia and as a result we came up with an initiative to create a jointly funded consulting instrument in Russia servicing Singapore - Russia investment and trade business traffic.
Russia is well known in the world for its academic excellence and research achievements in many areas and sectors. The projected commercial value of available innovations is measured in Tens of Billions of US Dollars. Russian Business Incubator is expected to become a bridge to bring over the innovations of value to Singapore and through Singapore to international markets. By commercializing intellectual property in Singapore RBI will hopefully make a valuable input in Singapore national programs aimed at building an economy of knowledge here.
In our plans we rely to a large extent on our Singapore partners. In this regard Singapore Business Federation is one of our main partners and a bridge between RBI and the local business community. The MOU we are signing today is laying the grounds for fruitful cooperation between our organizations. We did not waste our time even before this signing ceremony. An action road map and a working schedule for the current year has already been discussed and our first joint seminar is scheduled to take place in February with the following events to be held every second month throughout the year.
I invite Singapore business community to cooperation in fulfilling our mission. We are finalizing a substantial first package of innovative assets for considering investment and partnership participation. You will find certain initial information in the folders distributed here today. There are plenty more to be proposed soon. Do not hesitate to contact and visit us. Do not forget to visit our web-site frequently. It has just been completely renovated and will contain more and more valuable information from now on.
I want to thank the dynamic and professional working team of Singapore Business Federation for efficient cooperation in preparing this event and would like also to mention here the names of Cody Lee, Renee Koh and Elizabeth Boon as the people who did a lot to make this event happen.
Let me also thank all of you for joining us today and express my sincere hope that it will be of value for you.
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