The latest issue of IN-business magazine has just been published. If you have not come across it before, IN-business is published in partnership with NZTE and publishes a range of stories about New Zealanders in business.
This issue is particularly arresting because one of its focuses is business in Russia especially in the light of NZ's negotiations for an FTA with Russia. Russia is of course one of the BRICS nations alongwith South Africa, India, Brazil and China. In one of the articles Stuart Prior, former NZ ambassador to Russia, says that we have a real chance to build important new business in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan through this FTA. I loved the illustration on p.31 of the Russian bear looking at the quizzical kiwi.
I have been to Russia as a tourist (not in a tour bus) and it was hard - Prior says that Russia is ' most easily consigned to the too-hard basket' - I can imagine why.
Recently the Dominion published an article saying that Russia offered huge potential for textile firms and companies in our textile hubs of Levin, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Auckland had been visited by several Russian textile companies in May. This is great news especially for our local exporters in the Manawatu-Horowhenua. (Dominion May 26, 2011, C3)
Russia is obviously a market to watch.
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Monday, 4 July 2011
Monday, 15 November 2010
Proposed new FTA between New Zealand and Russia
I hope that our negotiators are aware of the following information in their work to get this FTA developed and signed:
Russia’s Doing Business Rating Falls Seven Points
Nov. 9 – Russia ranked only 123rd this year in an international rating of improving entrepreneurial conditions by country. The report was compiled by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation under the title, “Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs.” The research involved 183 countries.
Compared to last year, Russia’s rating has fallen seven points. From the CIS, Russia is topped by Kazakhstan ranked 59th, which took top honors for the most-improved business environment in 2009-10, Belarus ranked 68th.
The top 10 leading reformers were Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Ireland and Australia.
During the investigation period from June 2009 to June 2010, only two reforms were settled in Russia. The regulator eased construction permitting by implementing a one-stop shop for all procedures related to land use and introduced a series of legislative measures to improve creditor rights and the insolvency system.
At the same time, the construction permitting procedure is still one of the weakest points of doing business in Russia. The country ranks 182nd in that category.
Russian businessmen are spending 41.4 percent of their income on getting electricity, while in other countries businessmen spend an average of 6.8 percent of their income.
“To come to a building site in Moscow, a developer has to collect about 50 different signatures,” Anton Danilov-Danilyan from Delovaya Rosiiya criticizes.
It takes 30 days and demands nine different conciliatory procedures to start a business in Russia. By comparison, it takes just six procedures and 16 days to set up a business in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Russia did however receive appreciation for judicial maintenance of contracts execution and occupied 18th place in the annual survey. The cases are considered in 281 days (1.8 times faster than in OECD member-countries), and costs 13.4 percent from the claim price (19.2 percent).
“Probably, doing business in Russia is easier that is appears from the World Bank report, but on such ratings foreign investors size up the country, ” Igor Nikolays from FBK said, but “it does not matter what we think of our achievements. The matter is how we are estimated by others.”
Friday, 4 June 2010
Russia New Zealand FTA
http://admin.beehive.govt.nz/release/new+zealand-russia+begin+fta+scoping+discussions
Did you see this announcement on the Beehive website about the beginning of discussions for a bilateral agreement between Russia and New Zealand?
An article in the Dominion Post newspaper this morning suggested that such a deal would pave the way for Russia to join Asia-Pacific trade arrangements. It also lists trade opprtunities in such product areas as clothing & textiles, foodstuffs & beverages, education and the creative industries.
As with the already signed China Free Trade Agreement, it raises a myriad of questions as to whether New Zealand should enter into such agreements and with which countries.
Did you see this announcement on the Beehive website about the beginning of discussions for a bilateral agreement between Russia and New Zealand?
An article in the Dominion Post newspaper this morning suggested that such a deal would pave the way for Russia to join Asia-Pacific trade arrangements. It also lists trade opprtunities in such product areas as clothing & textiles, foodstuffs & beverages, education and the creative industries.
As with the already signed China Free Trade Agreement, it raises a myriad of questions as to whether New Zealand should enter into such agreements and with which countries.
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