Made in Russia: between sanctions and chance session at the SPIEF

The SPIEF held a session titled Made in Russia: Between Sanctions and Chance. It was organized and moderated by Veronika Nikishina, General Director, Russian Export Center (REC, VEB). The REC head was joined by Igor Shuvalov, Chairman of VEB.RF, Valery Gergiev, General Director of the Bolshoi Theater and Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Theater, Roman Chekushov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, and Alexey Repik, Chairman of Delovaya Rossiya. They discussed the Made in Russia national brand with businesses represented by Dmitry Vizir, General Director of Baltika, Ruslan Babintsev, Executive Director of Motorika, and Evgeniya Gladkina, board member of Fedoskino. Veronoka Nikishina stated that brand awareness has reached 85%. This is a clear indication that REC will be solely responsible for Made in Russia. Nikishina sees her next goal in transforming national brand's high recognition into a regular consumer choice through adaptation to both local, international, and domestic markets. A draft regulation has already been submitted to the government extending the Made in Russia program to the Russian retail chains and marketplaces. Furthermore, as Shuvalov stated, Made in Russia will be integrated with the Know Ours competition. Thus, the national brand has transformed from an export support program into a REC project, which Nikishina is consistently turning into a state-run tool for promoting Russia. And the session at SPIEF, with such a large number of participants, further confirmed this.