OREANDA-NEWS. An organizational meeting of the Business Council for Cooperation with Switzerland has taken place at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia.

CCI of Russia Vice-President Georgy Petrov, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federal Assembly State Duma Industry Committee, Coordinator of the State Duma Deputy Group for Liaison with the Swiss Parliament Vladimir Gutenyov, Deputy Director of the Russian Economic Development Ministry Europe Department Sergey Karaulov, Head of the Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein Department of the Third European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Maguta, businessmen, experts and regional representatives attended the meeting.

In spite of a certain decline in trade, Switzerland belongs to the leading economic partners of Russia, Georgy Petrov said. According to Russian customs statistics data, bilateral trade neared USD 14 billion in 2012. Switzerland ranks 16th amongst Russia’s trade partners and 12th amongst Russia’s investment partners. Finance, high technologies and pharmaceutics are the major areas of interaction.

As to the Chamber’s relations with Swiss partners, there is close interaction with the Switzerland-Russia Cooperation Council, the Swiss-Russian Forum Foundation, the Union of Swiss Businessmen ECONOMIESUISSE and the Swiss-Russian Industrial Business Club. Honorary representative of the CCI of Russia Artyom Kazakov has been working in Zurich since September 2011, Georgy Petrov added.

The 200th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Switzerland will be marked next year, and summit and high-level meetings will be held, Sergey Gutenyov said. He also spoke about interaction between the Russian Federal Assembly State Duma and Swiss partners, in particular, in the organization of business missions and meetings of parliamentary groups.

In his words, Swiss investors display a considerable interest in the implementation of projects in Russia. For instance, a possibility of building a joint micro-engineering plant and a pre-natal center is under consideration in the Samara region.

The new chairman of the Business Council was elected at the meeting. Schwabe JSC General Director, Сhairman of the Sverdlovsk branch of the Russian public organization Union of Russian Machine Builders Sergey Maksin was elected to the position in the general vote.

Deputy chairmen of the Business Council for Cooperation with Switzerland are GK Renova Development Director for High-Tech Assets Mikhail Lifshits, R-Pharm JSC Board of Directors Chairman, Сochairman of the Russian public organization Business Russia Alexey Repik and Chief Expert at the CCI of Russia Department for Foreign Relations and Liaison with Business Councils Irina Ruzankina.

Deputy Director of the Russian Economic Development Ministry Europe Department Sergey Karaulov, Head of the Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein Department of the Third European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Maguta and Chairman of the CCI of Russia Committee on Product Quality, President of the Russian Organization for Quality Gennady Voronin addressed the meeting.

They spoke about Russian-Swiss relations, results of joint events held in Russia and Switzerland and the Russian-Swiss Forum Economic Modernization and Innovations in Russia, due in Lausanne in May 2013.