20 business missions will be organized for Moscow exporters this year. Moscow companies are holding negotiations with their potential business partners in China, Germany, Turkey and other countries, website of Moscow Mayor reports. The Moscow Export Centre (MEC) at Moscow’s Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development will organize 12 business missions for export-oriented small and medium-sized local enterprises (SMEs) this year. They will be held online, because business activity throughout the world remains suspended due to closed borders. However, freight transportation has resumed.
“Holding business missions online has allowed us to continue working even in the current conditions. Although many countries have not reopened their borders, Moscow companies are holding international talks and discussing export contracts. Three MEC online business missions have been completed and there are plans for another 12 missions,” Deputy Mayor of Moscow Natalya Sergunina said, noting that this year Moscow companies from various industries would be able to take part in online business missions with their partners in Germany, Turkey, South Korea, China, Israel, Vietnam, Indonesia, Morocco and other countries. The Moscow companies will hold presentations of their products and will hold business meetings with prospect foreign buyers.
The Mosprom Center at the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development has prepared eight events with potential buyers abroad for small and medium-sized industrial and agrarian companies. They will be held online as well.
“Ten business missions involving over 330 business meetings have been organized this year for large Moscow producers with potential buyers in India, the Middle East and the CIS countries, within the framework of the Mosprom buyers’ program. Another eight business missions will be held this year with potential buyers in Germany, Hungary, Qatar, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and CIS countries. The format of such negotiations helps the participants to reveal mutual interests, outline the advantages of products made in Moscow and discuss the prices and the documents necessary for making the deals. It is a highly promising format, and we are thinking about adding it to the list of regular support measures as a preparatory stage before actually travelling to the country in question,” Vladimir Yefimov, Deputy Mayor for Economic Policy and Property and Land Relations, pointed out.
While preparing these business missions, Mosprom experts offer individual services to the participants. In particular, they can analyze the competitive advantages of the Moscow companies’ products so as to hold presale events more effectively, make an appropriate selection of counterparties, and offer counterparty verification. The experts of the center’s analytical department also analyze the destination market, including the situation on the market and the latest trends and factors.
The presale events are held in the MatchMaking format on the center’s specialized online platform. The government of Moscow covers absolutely all spending on the organization and technical aspects of the events.
The Moscow Export Center started organizing business missions for small and medium-sized enterprises in 2019. Their goal is to establish and develop business relations between Moscow companies and potential foreign partners. The MEC services include market research and the organization of match-making events, the analysis of conditions for entering a foreign market, the choice of potential buyers, the preparation of the necessary materials, as well as the holding of preliminary talks.
The MEC will resume the offline format of business missions when the global epidemiological situation improves. This format includes the free provision of venues for presentations and talks, transport for participants and other arrangements.
“This year, we will have organized three times more business missions than last year, when the format was launched in test mode: Moscow companies sent their representatives to France, Canada, India and Vietnam and received delegates from Slovakia in Moscow. Since then, the format of business missions has proved its effectiveness. As the result of the events we have held, Moscow companies have signed contracts for the delivery of goods and services worth nearly RUR 500 mio ($2 mio),” Alexei Fursin, head of Moscow’s Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development, pointed out adding that the MEC’s first online business mission in 2020 involved Japanese buyers.
Since then, 24 Moscow animation studios have held online meetings with their business partners, as part of the online version of the Annecy, France international animated film festival and market (MIFA).
As of now, talks are underway between Moscow and Azerbaijani businesses following a multi-industry business mission held from 11 to 14 August, during which 18 Moscow companies in mechanical engineering, equipment making, IT, electronics, medicine and the food industry presented their products.