Izvestia: How writing off world debt helps Russia help its producers
The Russian government plans to write off other countries’ debts by concluding export contracts with Russian producers in amounts equaling those debts, Izvestia says with reference to Chief Executive Officer of the Russian Export Centre Petr Fradkov. A precedent has just been set as Madagascar acquired medical equipment from Russia worth $15 mln with partial debt relief. “We were not as interested in the amount (of the contract), but rather in the precedent itself,” Fradkov stressed. When asked what countries could use the same mechanism, he replied that those are “almost all countries that borrowed (funds), for example, Cuba and many others.
Speaking about exports of Russian goods, he said that the agreement with China’s Alibaba to open a national platform Tmall.hk, has proven to be successful. “One should realize that China is the biggest e-commerce market in the world, and it is necessary to bring Russian companies there,” he said, adding that one can kill two birds with one stone here – raising brand awareness and expanding efficient logistics.
The plan is to make similar agreements with other Internet platforms, especially in leading marketplaces in the Asian-Pacific Region, the CEO said. “We intend to bring Russian products to Japan’s Rakuten and Indonesia’s Lazada in the near future. We also have plans in store for a marketing campaign to promote open ‘points of presence’ of Russian goods aimed at informing foreign customers about available Russian products and their advantages,” he said.
Published in http://tass.com
