Economic ties
On December 3rd 2014, a round table organised in the framework of the Joint Economic Sub-Commission Luxembourg-Russia was hosted by the Chamber of Commerce.
This coordination platform, composed of Russian and Luxembourg authorities in charge of economic and trade relations in their respective countries, focuses on the promotion of economic and trade relations between both countries and has proven to be a successful instrument when it comes to strengthening the cooperation between companies from Russia and Luxembourg, but also between institutions from the two countries.
This year’s sub-commission, co-chaired by Pierre Franck, Director of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Economy and Elena Danilova, Director of the Department of European and American countries at the Russian Ministry for Economic Development, marked the end of a challenging year. However, the deep friendly political relations and the overall cordial atmosphere were raised by the Co-Chairs and the Ambassadors Ferring and Entin. Both parties are willing to offer their full support to the Luxembourg and Russian companies in their endeavors on their respective markets, thereby contributing to restore and enhance confidence within the business community.
Financial services, Space, Transport and Logistics as well as Tourism were in the centre of this session’s discussions. Alain Hondequin, Secretary General of the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association presented the recent developments in the Luxembourg financial centre and reiterated the interest of Luxembourg to cooperate with Russia in the fields of financial services. Patricia Conti, the Luxembourg Space Cluster Manager presented the full scope of activities of the Luxembourg space industry and potential areas of cooperation, in particular in the framework of the Skolkovo project. SES representative Violetta Kuvaeva highlighted the milestones of the longstanding cooperation with their Russian counterparts and clients as well as directions for future cooperation. In the field of logistics, Fernand Rippinger from CFL Multimodal introduced the Russian audience to the national multimodal logistics hub and the company’s current network, which could be enlarged in the near future and serve the needs of freight movements between Luxembourg and Russia. Cargolux, the national air cargo carrier represented by Maxim Strauss, continues to explore the routes of the East and highlighted its cooperation with Volga Dnepr Airlines. Finally, the Luxembourg tourism destination was presented by Jeanne Tonnar, Ministry of the Economy, who suggested ways to connect tourism professionals from both countries in order to enhance the flow of travelers in two ways.
The joint economic sub-commission ended on a positive note with new routes for further cooperation to be explored. The 10th session of the Joint Economic Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union (BLEU) and the Russian Federation is scheduled to take place in December 2015 in Luxembourg. In the meantime, delegations from the regions of Kaluga, Stavropol, Chelyabinsk and Krasnodar are expected to visit Luxembourg and a sectoral trade mission from Luxembourg will be organised to Russia in the coming year.
