Sergey Katyrin: "Business has learned to work with the authorities"

On the eve of the anniversary of our Tomsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Russian CCI president Sergei Katyrin gave an interview specifically for the First Economic Journal.

On the eve of the anniversary of our Tomsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Russian CCI president Sergei Katyrin gave an interview specifically for the First Economic Journal. At the beginning of the conversation the magazine congratulated Sergey Katyrin on a round date: the Russian institute of chambers of commerce and industry turned 100 years old.

- Thank you. The Provision on Chambers of Commerce and Industry was approved by the Provisional Government of Russia on October 19 (October 6, old style) in 1917. This is for an entire community - an important date. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin sent a congratulation letter to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia. "Over the years, the system of chambers of commerce and industry has come a long way of formation and development, has convincingly proved its relevance, has become an effective tool for consolidating the representatives of the country's business community around common goals and objectives," the congratulation reads.

By the way, it was on October 19, but already in 1991, that the Constituent Congress took place, announcing the creation of our independent public non-profit organization, the RF CCI.

- A year later, the Tomsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry was established ...

- I heartily congratulate the staff of the Tomsk Chamber on its anniversary and wish you continued success and fruitful work for the benefit of the region and its inhabitants. We at the CCI RF appreciate the Tomsk Chamber, it is rightfully considered one of the best in Siberia. Yevgeny Primakov, who headed the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for ten years, highly assessed her work. We know that in the Tomsk Chamber there are strong, interesting directions. For example, support of non-primary exports, innovative economy. The Russian export center and the Tomsk CCI signed an agreement on the basis of the Tomsk CCI to create a "single window" to combine specialized services to support Tomsk enterprises that are export-oriented. In general in the Tomsk region with the participation of the regional chamber over the past few years an effective system of export support and development has been created, and this is a good example for others.

- Today the RF CCI is the leading business community of the country, it has more than 180 chambers in all regions. And then, in the nineties, it was difficult to start or everything that is called, immediately went "off the list"?

- Not easy. I participated directly in the creation of the Russian Chamber, from the very beginning I worked in it and I can say: what we started with and what is today is heaven and earth. That is, the material base almost all went to us from the Soviet chamber, including the current building on Ilyinka, for which many thanks to our predecessors. But in the USSR the economy was state, and the chamber was practically a part of the state and did not have, for example, any powers in the sphere of legislation, in the sphere of external relations, etc.

We were to start from scratch in the center and in the regions. The old economy lay in ruins, the new one was at the nursery age. In such an environment, it was necessary to learn how to represent the interests of business, in fact, to create an institution for the development of entrepreneurship, which in reality was simply not there. In Russia, a lot of problems, and today business, especially small and medium, it is very difficult to live and work. But there is business in the country, and it is developing. And this is our common, the whole CCI system, the main achievement.

- To what extent do you think the interests of business today are understood by the top leadership of the country?

- The interests of business today, as a rule, are understood by the leadership of the country. Power is much more attentive than before, listening to entrepreneurship. The interaction of both sides, dialogue is good for the economy, and today everyone understands this, although, of course, in different periods and in different situations, the dialogue can be more, and less active.