Organizers of the “round table”: the Committee for Entrepreneurship and Consumer Market Development of St. Petersburg, the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State Funded Institution “Center for Business Development and Support”, the Russian Representation Office of the Governmental Agency of Economic Development of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia at the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy, Industry, Medium Enterprises and Crafts of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Organizers of the “round table”: the Committee for Entrepreneurship and Consumer Market Development of St. Petersburg, the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State Funded Institution “Center for Business Development and Support”, the Russian Representation Office of the Governmental Agency of Economic Development of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia at the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy, Industry, Medium Enterprises and Crafts of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The St. Petersburg party at the “round table” included the Chairman of the Committee for Entrepreneurship and Consumer Market Development Elgiz Kachaev, the Director of St. Petersburg State Funded Institution “Center for Business Development and Support” Daniil Starkovsky, and the Executive Director of the Regional Integrated Center of St. Petersburg Maxim Balanev. Dr. Herbert Jacobi, Head of the External Economy Department, made a speech on behalf of the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy, Industry, Medium Enterprises and Crafts of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia; the German party at the “round table” also featured Kristine Werisch, a representative of the Department of Structural Policy and Small and Medium-Sized Business, and Tatiana Schwarzkopf, Head of the Russian Representation Office of the Economic Development Agency of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The topic of state support and assistance in development rendered to small and medium-sized businesses, which in the world practice are viewed as the foundation of economy, is always especially interesting from the vantage point of expert discussions, contents and effectiveness evaluation of implemented professional practices, and the exchange of international experience. In December 2014 in his Address to the Federal Assembly, the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin suggested a number of measures designed to facilitate the work of the entrepreneurs who aimed at creating stable legislation and predictable rules for business as well as measures intended to remove excessive control and supervision. In particular, the Address dwelt on the Government of the Russian Federation passing laws which would expand access for small and medium-sized businesses to the procurement process performed by government companies and include an exact stipulation of the obligatory annual volume of purchases to be made by government companies from small and medium-sized businesses; on granting 2-year tax holidays for the first time registered small enterprises; on granting 3-year “supervised holidays” for small and medium-sized enterprises with sound reputation; on freezing the current tax conditions for 4 years. In June 2015, the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin signed Federal law №156-FZ "On amending certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation relating to the issues of development of small and medium enterprise in the Russian Federation”. Regional measures intended to facilitate small and medium-sized business development are being successfully implemented by the Government of St. Petersburg in line with the coordinated state policy of entrepreneurship support. As of 01.07.2015 approximately 271 950 small-sized enterprises, including 252 553 micro-sized enterprises, approximately 112 444 individual entrepreneurs, and about 548 medium-sized enterprises were registered in the Northern capital of Russia. As of December 2014 the share of small businesses constituted approximately 30% of the Gross Regional Product, the share of the tax revenue into the city budget amounted to 28%. Two major annual reputable forums – St. Petersburg Partneriat for Small and Medium Enterprises “St. Petersburg-Russian and Foreign Regions” in March and the Forum of Small and Medium-Sized Business Enterprises of St. Petersburg in December – are held in St. Petersburg for the purpose of creating additional means of direct communication with business and elaborating/amending the new and the existing support measures. In the course of the “round table” meeting Elgiz Kachaev reported the coming opening of the St. Petersburg United Centre of Entrepreneurship (Address: 61, Polyustrovsky pr.) which would to function on the “one-stop” service principle. The already existing St. Petersburg State Funded Institution “Center for Business Development and Support provides various consultation services for entrepreneurs. Daniil Starkovsky announced that in 2016 the Center was planning to expand the range of the available services. In particular, it is expected that the Center will perform marketing surveys of potential foreign sales markets and render assistance in conducting bilateral business meetings.
The Regional Integrated Center of St. Petersburg presented a comprehensive program of export development “Export elevator”. Maxim Balanev described the University of Export, an educational program for entrepreneurs interested in starting sales on foreign markets, announced the publication of an issue of St. Petersburg exporter catalogue, and reminded that the deadline for application submission for the “Exporter of the year” competition was October 30, 2015. The German party, represented by Dr. Herbert Jacobi, Kristine Werisch and Tatiana Schwarzkopf, presented programs implemented by the Ministry of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia which, among other things, facilitated access to capital markets. The German counterparts described the work of the central bank of the Federal State NRW.BANK and the financial clearing process outlined the export support system for companies and the measures undertaken to assist in attending international exhibitions and fairs. The implemented measures have made small and medium-sized enterprises the economic foundation of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia which accommodates 755 thousand of small and medium-sizes companies; they constitute 99.5% of all the enterprises in the Federal State and employ 79.2% of the workforce with compulsory social insurance. Considering the mutual interest, the parties agreed to continue this professional cooperation. Additional information about the programs of small and medium entrepreneurship support can be found in the presentations.
Official website of II North-West Business Forum: http://www.top200.businesspuls.ru/
For more information: 576-62-08, e-mail: bokova@kvs.gov.spb.ru – Elena Nikolayevna Bokova, Chief Specialist of the International Cooperation Department.
Program of the round table “Small and Medium-Sized Business: Survival in the Changing World”
Presentations:
- Experience of export activity support in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia
- Support of small and medium-sized businesses by the government of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)
- Industry 4.0 – support strategy for innovative industry in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Opportunities for international companies
- St. Petersburg export initiative