Information on collaborative work between Krasnodar Region and France

In the opinion of French partners, Krasnodar Region is one of the economically stable regions in Russia and has good prospects for foreign investment. Recently France has actively pursued economic contacts with Krasnodar Region.

In April 2003 J de Boan, President of the Demeter Club, and Jean-Jacques Herve, agricultural adviser at the French Embassy in Russia, visited Krasnodar Region to discuss questions of working together in the field of agriculture, further development of the agribusiness complex of the Region, visiting agricultural businesses, and getting to know the heads of the organs of power for agriculture.

In June 2003 the president of Groupe Castel Pierre Castel, the advisor to the president G P Lanfranki, the Director General of Castel Freres company A Castel, and the CEO of Interargus V Govorov visited Krasnodar Region to get to know the Region and to carry out talks on realising the «MVK Souz» project.

On 23 September 2003 a delegation of senators from the French Republic led by the chairman of the economic committee Jerome Larche made an official visit to Krasnodar Region. During their visit members of the delegation met with heads of the Administration of Krasnodar Region, the Executive Assembly of Krasnodar Region, and visited leading industrial and agricultural businesses with the aim of familiarising themselves with the economy of the Region.

Representatives of French political and business circles regularly took part in events as part of the annual international economic forum Kuban and other events in the Region. In 2004 under the aegis of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Russia a presentation of Krasnodar Region was given at the Centre for International Trade in Moscow. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Jean Cadet took part in the plenary session.

On 16 April 2004 a meeting was held between the Head of the Administration of Krasnodar Region Aleksandr Tkachev and the First Deputy of the Head of the Administration of Krasnodar Region Aleksandr Remezkov, with the Ambassador of the French Republic Jean Cadet, embassy advisor on agriculture Maurice Rosin and the First Secretary of the Embassy K Bek, at the residence of the Ambassador of the French Republic, proposed by the French side.

In 2005 a meeting took place between the Head of the Administration of Krasnodar Region Aleksandr Tkachev, advisor to the President of France Jerome Monod, and J de Boan, former state advisor to the Ministry for Higher Education and Science and a member of the board of directors of the Fund for Political Innovation.

Participation in the MIPIM exhibition in Cannes over a period of six years has made it possible to position Krasnodar Region as a regular exhibitor, known and recognised by participants and visitors to the exhibition. In 2006 the Region was awarded the status of a partner organiser of the exhibition. During the last exhibition MIPIM 2007 agreements were signed as a result of which investment is planned by Siemens company in Triotskii and Kurganinskii water mains, by TPS in building multi-functional centres and hotel complexes in Sochi, as well as a car park and trading-recreational centre in Krasnodar.

At the VI International Investment Forum Sochi-2007, which took place from 20 to 23 September, the large French delegation took an active part, and included representatives of the Embassy of the French Republic led by the Ambassador of France in Russia Stanislas de Laboulaye, as well as business representatives, among whom were such companies as the bank Societe Generale, Gaz et Electricite de France, etc.

The delegation of the Embassy of the French Republic in the Russian Federation led by the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of France in Russia Stanislas de Laboulaye made an official visit to Krasnodar Region from 20 to 22 November 2007.

One of the points of the programme of this visit was to participate in the XIV International Agricultural Forum YUGAGRO, where approximately 20 French businesses took part in the displays. Also as part of the visit there was a meeting between the Ambassador, the Head of the Administration of Krasnodar Region Aleksandr Tkachev, and heads of Regional departments for construction, agriculture, resorts and tourism, wine making, investment and external meetings, during which the delegation visited the sugar factory Syukden in Tvilisskaya and a livestock rearing business, Vasyurinskii in Starokorsunskaya.

In the evening of 21 November there was an awards ceremony at the Intourist hotel for the For Service to Agriculture award, whose initiator was the Ambassador of the French Republic in Russia. The Ambassador personally presented the awards to the manager of Uspenskii Agropromsoyuz Evgenii Tulinov, and to Deputy of the Executive Assembly of Krasnodar Region Dmitrii Kozachenko for their particular contribution in developing the two-sided collaboration between Krasnodar Region and the French Republic.

Humanitarian and cultural contacts

With the assistance of the Embassy of the French Republic in Russia regular charitable help is given to the Regional Clinical Hospital No4 (Centre for Thoracic Surgery) in Krasnodar and other organisations in the social sphere. In 2003 a delegation of medical personnel from France visited Krasnodar to familiarise themselves with the work of leading specialists at the Centre for Thoracic Surgery. Professor of the Strasbourg University Gilbert Massard has already been to Krasnodar eight times. This work with Krasnodar doctors is not only of a scientific and practical nature as he also helps the Centre financially. With his help the Centre for Thoracic Surgery has received two unique sets of anesthesia equipment. The Ambassador for Luxembourg in Russia K Vaice and advisor on social issues of the French Embassy J Cherkachukin have both travelled to Krasnodar with Gilbert Massard.

The Kuban State University has welcomed representatives of the field of education of France as guests several times: professors, teachers, scientific figures. Having won the Tempus-Tacis grant for research in the field of education, the Kuban State University, in addition to collaboration with the University of Genoa (Italy) and the People’s Friendship University of Russia (Moscow), will also work with the University of Nice (France).

Every year several thousands of Kuban residents visit France for business or pleasure.

The towns of Sochi, Gelendzhik and Tuapse in Krasnodar Region are twinned with the French towns of Menton, Angouleme and Ajen.

Customs statistics

In 2005 the internal turnover of Krasnodar Region with France was $177 million. The position of France in the overall trade turnover of Krasnodar Region was more than 5%. In addition, goods worth $124.5 million were exported to France, and $52.5 million of goods were imported from France.

The main export from Krasnodar Region to France is oil and petroleum products (268 000 tons worth $122 million), as well as machine engineering goods (worth $1.5 million).

The Region imported: glasswares (48 tons worth $5.5 million); machinery and equipment for loading and unloading (344 tons worth $5 million); air pumps and vacuums (more than $4.5 million); and industrial equipment, aluminium foil, paper and cardboard making equipment.

According to the statistical data for the southern customs house for 2006 the turnover of trade between Krasnodar Region and France was $317.5 million. This included export of goods to France totalling $255 million, and import of goods from France of $62.5 million. The rise in export over import was approximately $192.5 million.

Over the period from January to December 2006 Krasnodar Region delivered the following products to France: oil and petroleum products (474 000 tons worth $248 million) as well as sunflower oil, safflower oil and cotton seed oil (6 500 tons worth $3 million).

Imports to the Region included: extracts, essences and concentrates of coffee and tea (totalling $12 million); seeds, fruits and spores for sowing ($10.5 million); industrial equipment ($1.5 million); as well as aluminium foil, sunflower seeds for sowing, machinery to raise and move freight, metal processing equipment.

Over the first three quarters of 2007 trade turnover between Krasnodar Region and France was more than $278.367 million. This includes exports to France worth $199.2 million and goods imported from France totalling $79.1 million. The balance of trade is positive and amounts to more than $120 million.

The main exports from Krasnodar Region to France were: oil and petroleum products ($194 million), and machine engineering goods ($2.6 million).

The main imports were: food products and raw materials for food production ($27.6 million) and machine engineering goods ($2.5 million).

There are 12 commercial organisations with foreign investment from France registered within the territory of Krasnodar Region, with place of honour going to Bonduelle-Kuban and Chateau le Grand Vostok, a unique Russian-French project to produce wines in Russia to classical European quality standards. This is the first full-cycle wine production facility in Russia - from growing the grapes to bottling - created on the model of the French chateaux. In the banking sector Societe Generale has made a decision to open a network of banks in Russian regions, including Krasnodar.

French companies are playing an active part in the work of the Consultative Council for Foreign Investment led by the Administration of Krasnodar Region.