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CEBU City: An official of the Russian nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Eastern Dimension International Public Movement (EDIPM)
has urged Cebu’s furniture exporters to take advantage of the
booming real-estate industry of Russia.
Vladimir Ivanovich Sukharev,
EDIPM vice-president, said a boom in Russia’s housing industry
would redound to a huge demand for “custom-designed, high quality
furniture pieces.”
“All of these are met by
Cebu’s furniture manufacturers and exporters,” Sukharev said
during the recent signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU)
between EDIPM and the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI)
at the Casino Español de Cebu in this city.
EDIPM is an NGO tasked with the
expansion of Russia-Asean dialogue to improve collaboration in
commerce and investments, and in scientific, technical and cultural
areas.
The MOU stipulates that the tie
forged between CCCI and EDIPM will initiate and develop bilateral
actions of cooperation that aims to strengthen trade and economic
relations between Cebu and the Russian Federation.
In addition, it encourages
businessmen in Cebu and Russia to participate in exhibitions and
fairs held within their respective regions.
Allan Suarez, Philippine
Exporters Confederation-Cebu (Philexport Cebu) chairman, said the
MOU may come as an “answered prayer” since local furniture
exporters are targeting Europe as its new market.
In the human resource sector,
Sergey Proshin, vice-president of Intertrading, an independent
nonprofit organization, said the Philippines’ pool of
“high-level” technicians is of great demand in Russia, in
addition to nursing professionals.
Earning the reputation of being
“hardworking and competent people,” Filipinos have a good chance
to work in Russia and earn high pay, Sergey Kalashnikov, head of the
Department of Social Development and Environment Protection of the
Russian Federation said earlier.
Kalashnikov also said Russia’s
economic boom that increased its citizen’s capability to invest
and travel abroad might trickle down to Cebu’s tourism industry,
as Russians will likely visit the province’s world-class beach
resorts.
In line with these developments,
Sukharev said, the Russian Federation is planning to establish an
association of Russian businessmen in the Philippines that will be
“working on permanent basis” to ensure that all the objectives
of the MOU are followed.
A second Russian delegation will
visit Cebu within the year to meet with financial business leaders
in the province.
The 54-member trade and
investment mission from Russia composed of businessmen,
industrialists and government officials, arrived in Cebu on Tuesday.
The mission, led by Mikhail
Nikolaev, deputy chairman of the Council of Federation of the
Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, is the first of its size
visiting the Philippines since the founding of the Russian
Federation in 1992.
--Panay news
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