Leningrad can be a gateway to the European market

Dec 06, 2022

Leningrad is the economic and logistics center in the north western part of Russia and it is home to the second largest sea port of the country, thereby serving as a gateway to Europe. World Trade Center Mumbai organized an interactive meeting on trade and investment opportunities in Leningrad Region with the in-bound delegation led by Mr. Yalov Dmitry Anatolivich, Vice Governor, Minister of Economic Development of the region.

Mr. Anatolivich remarked, “many Russian companies are keen to explore the  Indian market, which is the fastest growing market in the world and has the second largest consumer base in terms of population size. There is a huge opportunity for India and Russia to balance the current bilateral trade, which is largely lopsided in favour of Russia. The rupee-rouble trade settlement mechanism will work smoothly only if we correct the current imbalance in bilateral trade. We need to also diversify our trade basket as currently bilateral trade is concentrated in oil & gas, coal and fertilizers. India can export textile, auto-components, pharma and engineering goods, while Russia can export agro products to India.”

Ms. Shtokailo Vera Yurievna, General Director, Center for Industrial Development of the Leningrad Region pointed out, “Leningrad ranks in the top 10 destination in terms of favorable investment climate in Russia and the regional government has opened single window clearance system. Fertilizers, papers, building materials, wagons are some of the goods exported from Leningrad.”

Mr. Surovtsev Alexey Vladimirovich, Consul General of the Russian Federation in India raised hope that the programme will bring new opportunities for trade, investment and other forms of collaboration between both countries.

Ms. Rupa Naik, Executive Director, MVIRDC WTC Mumbai pointed out, “With a bilateral trade relation since the last 25 years, this year is a historic one as Russia has become the 5th largest trade partner of India and we are set to attain the USD 30 billion trade target set for 2025 in the current year itself. In April-Sep 2023, our bilateral trade crossed USD 22.6 billion, compared to just USD 13 billion in the entire of last year (2021-22).”

Ms. Naik suggested the visiting delegation to explore trade and investment opportunities in Maharashtra, which has a strong presence of MSME clusters in pharma, engineering, textile, food processing and other sectors.

Speaking about the Leningrad region, Ms. Naik informed, “Leningrad is rich in mineral and forest resource as it has more than 100 mineral deposits and 70% of the region is covered with forest. Indian companies can explore collaboration in oil refining, forestry, lumber, pulp and paper, chemicals, engineering and ship-building as they are dominant sectors in the region.”

A key highlight of the event was the signing of two MoUs, i) between WTC Mumbai and the Center for Industrial Development of the Leningrad Region and ii) between WTC Mumbai and the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of the Leningrad Region.

The event was followed by a B2B networking session between the visiting Russian business delegates and their counterparts in India.