MOSCOW, July 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
Andrey Guryev, a member of the Board of the Russian Union of
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Chairman of the Russia-Argentina
Council of Entrepreneurs and CEO of PhosAgro, and Juan Manuel Collazo, Chairman of the
Argentina-Russia Council of Entrepreneurs, who replaced Antonio
Estrany y Gendre in February this year, hosted the second Council
Forum in Moscow at the
headquarters of PhosAgro, a leading global producer of
environmentally friendly phosphate-based fertilizers and the main
supplier of fertilizers to the Latin American market.
In attendance were Argentina's
Ambassador to Russia, Ricardo Ernesto Lagorio; the Director of the
Russian Foreign Ministry's Latin America Department, Alexander Schetinin; the Deputy Director of the
Department for Asia, Africa and Latin
America of Russia's
Ministry of Economic Development and Deputy Chairman of the Russian
section of the Intergovernmental Russian-Argentine Commission of
Trade-Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation, Sergei Nosov; the Vice-President of the Russian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vladimir
Padalko; the Executive Vice-President of the Russian Union
of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Victor
Cherepov; Russian State Duma Deputy and Head of the
Parliamentary Group on Relations with the Parliament of
Argentina, Alexander Sidyakin; as
well as representatives of various both countries.
Also in attendance were representatives of Russian and Argentine
companies and business communities, including Delovaya Rossiya, JSC
Russian Export Centre, JSC Gazprombank, JSC Russian Railways, VESTA
LLC, RITE, Baltdraga, Incotex Group, NC SESLA, Trade House
Sinara-Transport Machines, JSC ELTEZA, PJSC Power Machines, JSC
Russian Fracturing Company, Helport SA, Panadile SA, Marval O'Farrell & Mairal, Zang, Bergel
& Viñes Abogados, TMH Argentina, Techint, TMH Internacional,
Hydra Argentina SA, EkoTech Energy LLC.
During the Forum, participants discussed the current state of
the trade, economic and investment agenda for bilateral
Russian-Argentine relations and summarized the results of joint
work since the beginning of the year, following the meeting of the
Presidents of Russia and
Argentina and the 13th meeting of
the Intergovernmental Russian-Argentine Commission of
Trade-Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation. The
participants also established a number of objectives for the
future.
In opening the forum, the Chairman of the Russia-Argentina
Council of Entrepreneurs and CEO of PhosAgro, Andrey
Guryev, noted: "A little more than a year has passed
since the Councils resumed their activities, but in this very short
period of time, we have accomplished a great deal and taken a
number of important steps to meet each other halfway.
"First of all, as President of the Russian Fertilizer Industry
Association, it's important for me to note that, in August of last
year, as a result of joint efforts and constructive dialogue with
our Argentine colleagues, an agreement was reached to remove the 6
per cent import duty on high-quality diammonium phosphate (DAP).
This is, to say the least, a great victory that will benefit, first
of all, Argentina's farmers and
the consumers of their products. This is an important contribution
on the part of the state to ensuring Argentina's food security, and we thank our
colleagues for their assistance in this process, and also for their
dedication, professionalism and desire to expand borders.
"For Russian producers of mineral fertilizers, Latin America-and Argentina in particular-is a priority sales
market. We are certain that the removal of duties will be a
powerful incentive for a further increase in deliveries of
environmentally friendly mineral fertilizers from Russia. As of the end of 2017, deliveries of
PhosAgro mineral fertilizers to Argentina had reached 140,000 tonnes, having
doubled in the last three years.
"I would also like to announce that we are planning to open a
trading company in Buenos Aires
during the G20 Summit in Argentina, which is another indication of our
interest in strengthening and expanding our partnership with our
Argentinean partners."
The Chairman of the Argentina-Russia Council of
Entrepreneurs, Juan Manuel
Collazo, had this to say: "Thank you very much for the
excellent organisation of this event and for your tremendous
hospitality. Our fraternal Russia-Argentina Council of
Entrepreneurs, headed by my friend, Andrey Guryev, has been doing a
great deal of work with us. I would like to say that we are looking
to the future with optimism: at present, there are outstanding
conditions for developing trade and other relations between our
countries and our peoples, and a wonderful business environment has
been created at both the official and the private level. I believe
that the visit by Argentina's
President, Mauricio Macri, to
Moscow is evidence of this. I
would also like to emphasise the importance of the meeting of the
Councils held last November in Buenos
Aires, where Mr. Guryev was accompanied by an impressive
delegation of Russian entrepreneurs representing various sectors of
the economy."
Argentina's Ambassador
to the Russian Federation,
Ricardo Ernesto
Lagorio, added: "I would like to say a few words of
gratitude to Mr. Guryev for yet another demonstration of
hospitality. When I was appointed as Argentina's Ambassador to Russia, it was a great honour for me because I
would be representing my country before your huge country, huge not
only from the point of view of geography, but also in terms of its
diversity of cultures, politics and opportunities for business
development. In January of this year, we had an excellent working
meeting with Russian President Vladimir
Putin, which was four hours of fruitful work. I think that
we are talking about the formation of a renewed strategic alliance,
based on a much more modern vision of the world. On behalf of the
Government of Argentina, my wish
for you is that you continue working on the development of this
amazing synergy so that you can help both our governments and
private business deepen and develop their relations and promote a
strategic partnership between our countries."
The Vice-President of Russia's Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, Vladimir Padalko, said: "A little more than a
year has passed since Andrey Guryev was elected as Chairman of the
Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs, but his team has already
managed to accomplish a great deal: relations with our Argentine
partners have been restored, the membership base has been
replenished, a representative business mission to Buenos Aires took place, and concrete
bilateral projects are being developed. We are happy that Sergey
Dankvert supported our suggestion to appoint Andrey Guryev as
Deputy Chairman of the Russian section of the Russian-Argentine
Intergovernmental Commission. This will provide an opportunity to
express the consolidated position of Russian business at a high
intergovernmental level."
The Deputy Chairman of the Russian section
of the Intergovernmental Russian-Argentine
Commission of Trade-Economic and
Scientific-Technical Cooperation, Sergei Nosov, added: "Last year, the Council
of Entrepreneurs was rebooted, and this could not but have an
impact on its results. We have a truly dynamic and consistent
dialogue regarding the business community and state structures. It
is symbolic that, in 2017, after resumption of the activities of
the Councils of Entrepreneurs, we once again began seeing an
increase in trade turnover, with bilateral trade between our
countries increasing to USD 890
million. We have been seeing a positive trend this year as
well, which can only make us happy."
The Director of the Latin America Department of
the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Schetinin, noted: "We have been
seeing dynamic cooperation between our countries' Councils of
Entrepreneurs under the leadership of their Chairmen, Andrey Guryev and Juan
Manuel Collazo. The development of relations with
Argentina and with all of
Latin America is, in my opinion,
an essential area of Russia's
foreign policy, including in an economic sense. We are in favour of
equal, mutually beneficial, non-discriminatory cooperation in the
spirit of the 21st century, not the 19th. We are counting on your
considerable entrepreneurial voice after the upcoming conclusion of
a memorandum of cooperation between the Eurasian Economic
Commission and the member states of Mercosur."
The Executive Vice-President of the Russian Union of
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Viktor Cherepov, had
this to say: "At the St Petersburg International Economic Forum
2018, we cited the example of Argentina as the chair of the B20 on securing
infrastructure investments and developing the digital economy. The
Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Chamber
of Commerce and Industry of the Russian
Federation, Russia's two
largest business associations, set a precedent by focusing together
on the work of the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs. This
had a positive result, especially since the Russian-Argentine
Commission is working with us, and Andrey Guryev is the Deputy
Chairman of the Russian section of the Commission. After a Russian
business delegation led by Andrey Guryev visited Buenos Aires in December, various industries
and companies began working with their counterparts in Argentina. In my opinion, when implementing
joint projects, Russia and
Argentina should also make use of
the opportunities offered by the industry commissions of the
Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, especially in
such important areas as agribusiness, energy and transport
engineering, mining, and the nuclear and pharmaceutical
industries."
Russian State Duma Deputy and the Head of the Parliamentary
Group on Relations with the Parliament of the Argentina, Alexander Sidyakin, stressed:
"Diplomatic relations between Russia and Argentina were established at the end of the
19th century. That gave rise to economic cooperation between our
two countries that continues to this day. We hope that with the
support of the Councils of Entrepreneurs of Russia and Argentina, our future partnership will be even
more productive. I can speak about the increased role of
cooperation in agribusiness. In particular, Argentina removed duties on the import of
Russian fertilizers in 2017. In turn, PhosAgro is a supplier of
high-grade fertilizers, which are in high demand in Argentina."
The Chairmen of the Councils of Entrepreneurs of Russia and Argentina, Andrey Guryev and Juan Manuel Collazo, expressed confidence that
this Forum would contribute to the further development of fruitful
cooperation and bilateral trade and economic relations between
Russia and Argentina and agreed to consider the
possibility of hosting the next Forum in Argentina during the G20 Summit.
About PhosAgro
PhosAgro (http://www.phosagro.ru ) is one of the world's
leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers
in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and
high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content
of not less than 39% (according to IFA, Fertecon and CRU).
PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, over 35 grades
of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium
tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries
spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's
priority markets outside of Russia
and the CIS are Latin America,
Europe and Asia.
PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and global
depositary receipts ("GDRs") for shares trade on the London Stock
Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1
June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI
Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.