The meeting between the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (RCCI)His Excellency Yevgeny Primakov and the State Minister of Lebanon, President of the General Union of the Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Arab Countries His Excellency Adnan Kassar took place in Moscow on November 16, 2010. Several other representatives of the Chamber including Vice-president George Petrov, the deputy director of the Department for bilateral councils Gamzat Gamzatov, the chief expert of the bilateral cooperation of International Cooperation Department Yuriy Gryadunov and Deputy Director of the Russian-Arab Business Council Vladislav Lutsenko also attended the meeting.
The event passed in positive and benevolent atmosphere. The parties discussed the development of Russian-Arab and Russian-Lebanese relations.
The Arab side has confirmed its interest in enhancing of cooperation with Russia, both through government agencies, and in the sphere of private sector. H.E. Adnan Kassar pointed out that the role played by the Russian-Arab Business Council is highly appreciated in the Arab business world and at the level of governmental institutions. He also confirmed the interest in further promoting cooperation through the channels of the Council.
Referring to the bilateral Russian-Lebanese agenda, the Russian side reported that a number of companies in Russia are interested in entering Lebanese markets and participating in tenders for major infrastructure projects. The parties agreed that the potential of Russian-Lebanese economic, trade and investment cooperation is far from being used to its capacity and bilateral Russian-Lebanese Business Council has to play an important role in building it up.
Mr. Primakov then briefed Mr. Kassar about the large-scale plans of the Russian government to transform Russia into a world financial center, calling the Lebanese party to share the accumulated experience in this sphere. As an experienced banker, Mr. Kassar said that Lebanon can not only share its experience, but also take an active part in building up the Russian-Arab investment exchange, which, however, according to the Lebanese party, should be developed on both sides.
During the meeting the next joint session between the Russian and Arab parts of the Russian-Arab Business Council was also touched upon. The Arab side reported that the Tenth Anniversary Session of the Russian-Arab Business Council will be held in the Kingdom of Morocco in spring 2011.
We invite all interested enterprises, companies, organizations to take part in the forthcoming Tenth Session of the Russian-Arab Business Council! The first exhibition of Russian goods and services is scheduled in the Kingdom of Morocco at the same time with the Session, which will be held May 24-26, 2011 in Casablanca.
For the sake of providing more information for interested parties, the Session’s official website has been launched at http://10session.russarabbc.ru. Please call us directly for any inquiries at +7 495 730-41-23.