Andrei V. Izurov, Program Administrator and Trade Office Manager: a Russian citizen with extensive East European business experience in addition to U.S. investment background. Holds MBA from the University of Massachusetts with major in International Business and Finance. As Pskov/UMass liaison and project translator, has provided clear and effective communication since the partnership's initial development in 1992. His knowledge of the Pskov region and its top administrators has proven invaluable
| Export | Import |
|---|---|
| Timber | Cereal products |
| Peat | Foodstuffs | Flax | General consumer goods |
| Linen | Machinery and equipment |
| Electric engines and generators | Chemicals |
| Cables and wiring | Fertilizers |
| Clothing and footwear | Canned goods and beverages |
The region is especially anxious to generate new business activity and international trade with the U.S. As of January 1995 more than two thirds of its 163 large and medium businesses had been registered as joint-stock companies producing 87 percent of the total industrial output. The foreign sales for 1994 totaled 29.7 m USD, with Baltic countries accounting for almost 50 percent of it. Almost 200 joint ventures and foreign subsidiaries were operating in the region by January 1995.
The Pskov region is rapidly growing. It is in an excellent position to develop a secure and prosperous future and a good standard of living for its people. It has a wealth of agricultural lands that are currently under-utilized, an excellent location for trade and tourism, substantial forestry and water resources, an environment of very high quality, and an educated, healthy and motivated population. The Partnership Program and its U.S.-Russian Trade Office encourage all interested U.S. parties to offer the training, products, capital and expertise that will allow for the effective and rapid development of these resources and potentials.
As an integral part of the Partnership Program, the U.S.-Russian Office of Trade and Investment is coordinated with all of the Program activities. It can access their different material and intellectual resources in order to achieve its tasks in the most efficient way. Key elements of the Program include:
1) Opening a New Department of Regional Planning and Development at Pskov Polytechnical Institute. Ten Pskov faculty have been selected and begun to attend classes at the Department of LARP and School of Management at UMass/Amherst to develop their areas of concentration (planning and economic development in public and private sectors). Each will complete two semesters of work at UMass, teach two-three courses in this new department and be engaged in research, technical support, consulting and other public service activities. Fifty students will be admitted to the Program each year starting September 1996.
2) Pskov Center for Regional Planning and Development (CRP) functions as the research, technical support and public service arm of the Department. It staffs and maintains a computer teaching lab for instruction in GIS, computer-aided planning systems, and business management and marketing systems. It has within it an outreach capability which allows Pskov and its regional businesses to better compete in the international marketplace.
3) Professional Training Programs.• Economic Development: Business and Trade Opportunities for the United States and Russia . Sixteen two week courses will be offered to the local businesses with total enrollments of 320 students during the two year period. Eight students will spend two weeks in the U.S. to discuss their business plans with American counterparts.
• Exchange and Mentoring Program: State and Municipal Officials. Eight public administrators from the Pskov regional and municipal government will spend two weeks as guests of senior government officials with similar duties in the U.S. Several months later, the public officials from Massachusetts will visit Pskov for two weeks.
• Geographic Information Systems and Computer Aided Planning. A total of 48 government staff, business people and professionals will receive two weeks of training in the use of GIS and other computer aided planning technologies.
• Andrei Izurov and Robert Hopley each spent a week in Pskov and Velikie Luki meeting with local companies interested in contacts with U.S. businesses;
• Olga Rak is back to Pskov after having spent four months as an international trade specialist at the Trade Office in Amherst;
• Sen. Stan Rosenberg and Mayor Jeffrey Bean of Fitchburg spent two weeks visiting Pskov in December of 1995. An agreement to establish sister city relationship between two cities was signed with the Mayor Alexander Prokofiev of Pskov ;
• market testing conducted: several Pskov craft items were exhibited at the Russian store in Fitchburg, MA, on a trial basis to introduce them to the market and capture data on product demand and pricing.
• NPN, a Pskov based company, is considering purchasing pellets for production of plastic foam from a local Massachusetts vendor. The product demand is about 300 tons a month;
• several product samples and business catalogues of some Massachusetts companies have been delivered to Pskov. The local Chamber of Commerce and Industry is in process of identifying Pskov traders who will distribute the products for the U.S. companies in the region;
• a cadmium and lead test is being conducted by the Alfred University College of Ceramics to establish compliance of the Pskov ceramicware with the U.S. standards.
• The Pskov Chamber of Commerce and Industry is seeking a foreign partner to finish a four-star 167 units hotel in Pskov. When finished, the hotel is expected to receive 35,000 visitors per year.
• The "Rostek-Pskov" company is looking for the U.S. trade partners to establish a retail network. The company provides construction, transportation, custom clearance and warehousing services with annual sales of 11 m USD.
• The trading company "Torgovyi Dom Sirin" is looking for a supplier of foodstuffs. CIF St.-Petersburg. All types of canned goods, beverages, dairy and cereal products considered.
Through the MTC a two-week visit to Massachusetts for a delegation from the Pskov region led by the Governor Vladislaw Tumanov was arranged in October 1992. The delegation included the newly elected Pskov city mayor, Alexander Prokofiev, and three key Pskov public officials. This visit began a connection that has grown ever stronger, leading to the present US-Russian partnership grant.
This last Thanksgiving I was fortunate enough to be able to visit both Pskov city and Velikie Luki, the second city of the region, to teach about forging Western business contacts. Over 300 people attended the classes and lectures and there are at least ten significant companies working on "Western-style" business plans with the help of our Pskov partner, the Center for Regional Planning (CRP). The CRP Director Alexander Zadontsev was one of the October 1992 visitors.
Of particular note to American businesses may be a garment manufacturer, Slavyanka, that is currently expanding and doing a great deal of contract garment manufacturing for German and Canadian importers. Much of Slavyanka's equipment is modern, manufactured in Austria, and like other Russian manufacturere's they are seeking Western partners who can market their goods in the West, taking advantage of their low costs, skilled work-force and high quality standards. They give the lie to the simplistic notion that all Russian goods are poor quality.
Another great prospect is Velikie Luki Mebel, a furniture manufacturer producing bed-frames, tables, desks and other wooden products for IKEA, the Swedish furniture giant, as well as several other European companies. Price, custmer service, reliable delivery, consistent quality, in other words the basics of western commerce, all come naturally to this company.
There are many more companies that the trade office has information about. Opening some of our market, taking advantage of theirs, a little modest investment and the astute western business will see significant growth over the next few years. Remember, Cosmopolitan magazine's third largest monthly production run is in Russia...who is doing all that advertising and why?
Prof. Robert Hopley, Director, Economic Development Program