Rustam Minnikhanov: Tatarstan is interested in promoting cooperation with the Rhône-Alpes region in the framework of the Russian-French relations

On June 24, at his meeting with the management of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lyon, Association of French enterprises, Confederation of small and medium-sized businesses of the Rhône-Alpes region, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov said that Tatarstan is interested in promoting cooperation with the Rhône-Alpes region within the framework of strengthening Russian-French relations.

The visit to Lyon is a great opportunity to present the economy of Tatarstan, tell French businessmen more about the possibilities available in Tatarstan in the field of investments and innovations, Rustam Minnikhanov said. He also noted that the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lyon is an organization that performs the real work with French companies.

Rustam Minnikhanov said that he also represents the interests of 14 innovative regions as Board Chairman of the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia (AIRR).

Tatarstan President told in details about the experience of Tatarstan in cooperation with foreign companies. Thus, such French companies as "Schneider Electric", "Air Liquide", the French retail chains ("Auchan" and others) are successfully doing business in Tatarstan.

We have strong business relations with large French companies, but small and medium-sized business has not been well developed so far. In the meanwhile, Tatarstan could become a starting point for French entrepreneurs who are interested in entering the Russian market, he noted.

According to Rustam Minnikhanov, Tatarstan has all the conditions for doing business, with industrial sites, parks, innovation infrastructure being developed. In particular, "Air Liquide" has production facilities in the special economic zone "Alabuga" and Technopolis “Khimgrad”, Schneider Electric has launched two plants and is performing training activities (personnel training).

Rustam Minnikhanov expressed his confidence that other Russian innovative regions, the AIRR members, also have every opportunity to develop business of foreign companies in their territories.

As for the visit to Lyon, we are very interested in learning your innovation infrastructure, Rustam Minnikhanov said, adding that the range of the contacts can be very wide in general.

Representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lyon, in their turn, said that they are ready to provide all necessary information and share their gained experience.

Deputy Mayor of Lyon Karine Dognin-Sauze welcomed Rustam Minnikhanov on behalf the Mayor and said that Lyon is rapidly developing, and such industries as innovations and international relations play an important role in its development. She also stressed that the development of robotics is one of the prospective areas.

Summing up, Rustam Minnikhanov noted that it is also important for Tatarstan to establish contacts with educational institutions of France and Lyon in particular. You have a very strong engineering school, he said, and we are interested in the exchange of students.