Information technology cooperation is the future of Russia-China relations. Moreover, without it it is impossible to bring Russian-Chinese relations to a new level, said Vitaly Mankevich, chairman of the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. , expert of the Russian-Chinese Committee for Friendship, Peace and Development.
He noted that despite the rapid growth of trade between Russia and China, including Russian exports, our country supplies China with low value-added products, mainly from the non-energy crude segment.
“There are a minimum of relatively high value-added goods, and there are almost no IT products and services. And it’s not because they aren’t needed in China, or that we don’t have anything to offer,” Mankiewicz says.
According to him, the first reason is the existence of significant differences between the IT product markets of the Russian Federation and China.
“In other words, our companies don’t know what China needs and in what ‘package’ it should be sold, and Chinese IT product developers are in the same situation,” he said.
Mankiewicz cited the food trade as an example.
“You should not think that you can bring any product to China, even a product that is in demand there, and start trading successfully. Marketing strategy, advertising, even packaging for the Chinese market are the components success, and those who have understood this have long “skimmed the cream”. In the computer products segment, the same thing, only more difficult. The Chinese market is very large, but you have to be able to penetrate it, especially more than, contrary to the industrialists of the food industry, we do not have this experiment yet.
At the same time, he noted that in a field as delicate as IT, coordination “from above” is necessary. “It is important to start with the establishment of joint working groups overseen by the governments of the Russian Federation and China, which would be engaged in coordination and coordination. Companies cannot and should not do this in isolation from the state,” he said.
Mankiewicz noted that in general there are no significant obstacles to opening Russian IT companies in China and Chinese in Russia.
“In the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, we believe that it is now necessary to open Russian IT companies in China and Chinese companies in Russia, and we are ready to contribute to this in any way possible. . There are hardly any cumbersome bureaucratic procedures, but approval is required. In China, for this, there are special parks for interaction, the introduction of new developments.
He also noted that it is necessary to organize business missions to visit innovative technoclusters in China and discuss interaction directly with Chinese partners.
“Of course, we understand that many Russian IT companies are small and even less medium-sized companies, which means that finding partners in China can be an unbearable task for them, which is why trade missions are necessary. Moreover, we are often approached by Chinese associations interested in Russian partners, and now is the time to seize this opportunity.
According to him, the current structure of exchanges between Russia and China must be reformatted, and cooperation in the field of information technology is one of the most promising branches of economic cooperation for Russia and China.
“I think the Chinese in technology will soon overtake other countries by far. They are interested in inviting our specialists, and I believe that these working groups will be well funded. We must also organize the interaction on our territory. For this, among other things, we in the Union are creating “connections” between Russian and Chinese companies and IT companies,” Mankevich concluded.
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