Dutch agribusiness most welcome doing business in Russia’s Bashkortostan region
Today the Republic of Bashkortostan is one of Russia’s most economically developed regions. It belongs to the top five regions in the Russian Federation as far as agricultural production is concerned. Bashkortostan is for example among the market leaders in terms of livestock, dairy and honey. In March, the 30th International AgroComplex-2020 exhibition was held in its capital Ufa. The local government invites the Netherlands agro food business community to visit Bashkortostan as one of the most promising regions in Russia.
International Agro Complex-2020
On the 17th of March 2020, in Ufa, the Head of Bashkortostan Mr. Radiy KHABIROV opened the 30th International AgroComplex-2020 exhibition. During the opening ceremony, a new milking unit was launched via a video link at the Pobeda LLC dairy farm in the Kaltasinsky district. The company is implementing an investment project for the construction of a farm for 5 thousand heads, with a total investment of 2.3 billion Russian Ruble. Just one of the examples of investments in Bashkortostan.
More than 350 companies from around 30 different regions in Russia were joining the yearly event. One of the new areas of the exhibition was the “Farm Products Fair”, which presented in a very nice way the (traditional) products of local farmers and agricultural cooperatives and the goods of large agricultural companies of the Republic Bashkortostan.
Netherlands agribusiness welcome
The government of the Republic Bashkortostan is quite active in promoting its economic developments and to attract foreign companies to do business. Agricultural Counsellor of the Netherlands embassy in Moscow, Meeuwes Brouwer, was invited to attend the Agro Complex-2020 exhibition as well together with a group of Dutch companies’ active in different subsectors of agriculture. The visit was prepared in time by the Netherlands embassy and regional authorities of Bashkortostan. Unfortunately, at the very last moment the visit of the Agricultural Counsellor had to be cancelled due to general travelling restrictions set by the Dutch government because of the Corona virus.
However, thanks to the support of the regional Ministry of Agriculture and organizers of Agro Complex exhibition, the visit of a group of Russian representatives of a number of Dutch participating agro food companies still took place. The companies, active in animal feed ingredients, manure handling, milking robots, vegetable seeds and greenhouse lightning, visited the Agro Complex exhibition on its first day and had an opportunity to have talks with the exhibitors present at the fair.
Furthermore, a meeting was arranged with the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Bashkortostan, Mr. Irik Surakov. During the meeting, an informative presentation was held about the latest agricultural and horticultural developments in the region as well on the investment potential and new strategy development in the agro food chain of Bashkortostan. The companies were also briefed about the support measures available for the construction of livestock farms and subsidies for the purchase of agricultural machinery and equipment.
Field visit near Ufa
With the support of the regional Ministry of Agriculture a field visit was organized to one of the leading companies of Bashkortostan, Sovkhoz ALEXEEVSKY. The greenhouse complex amounts more than 43 hectares of modern greenhouses with an annual vegetables production of over 15.000 tons. Besides indoor vegetable growing, the company is also active in dairy farming, with 3.000 heads of cattle.
Contact
In case Netherlands related agro food companies are interested in promoting their activities in this part of Russia, please contact the Office of the Agricultural Counsellor in Moscow via their email address: mos-lnv@minbuza.nl . The Office of the Agricultural Counsellor will bring you in contact with the regional authorities of the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Agricultural Team LAN at Netherlands Embassy in Moscow
April 2020