推薦序
Dear reader,
I have willingly responded to the invitation to write a foreword to the study entitled “Exploring the rapid developing Russian agriculture and Taiwan’s Business opportunity”
(探索快速發展的俄羅斯農業與台灣的商機).
The relevance of such analytical publications can hardly be exaggerated.
We are passing through challenging times of geopolitical and epidemiological turmoil, when short-term interests of international players tend to take precedence over objective needs to
strengthen and facilitate global solidarity. In this context, any initiative that aims to look beyond the horizon and suggests new, relatively unexplored and therefore promising cooperation
areas worth its weight in gold. What gives me a particular pleasure is that the paper we discuss today was prepared by Mr. Ching-Yen Huang (黃清晏) and Dr. Chi-Hun Dai (戴志鴻), whom I know as
experienced professionals and talented researches.
As a starting point I would like to underline that the mutually-beneficial ties between Russia and Taiwan have experienced a rapid development in the past few years. We welcomed significant
breakthroughs in almost all practical spheres, including the renewal of direct Moscow-Taipei and Vladivostok-Taipei air links (2019) and the liberalization of visa regimes (2018-2020) which
helped to boost the number of mutual visits to the unprecedented level of nearly 51 000 last year, as well as the achievement of a historic high of 6.6 billion USD in bilateral trade
(2018).
The latter deserves special mention, as it represents the widening degree of complementarity of our economies. Despite a small decline in 2019, the trend serves as a testament to the great
potential Taiwan and Russia have yet to unleash. And here I would like to agree with the distinguished authors that one of the most apparent areas of focus in this regard is agriculture.
Due to the objective population and geographical characteristics, it is essential for Taiwan to invest in developing stable and diversified international food supply chains. Russia is an
obvious cooperation partner in this sphere. In recent years my country has consolidated its positions as leading, credible and innovative agro-industrial producer with excellent potential for
growth.
The facts speak for themselves. Grain harvests in Russia have exceeded
100 million tonnes for six years in a row, with the tentative forecast of 125 million tonnes for 2020 (the second-best result in nearly 30 years), including 82 million tonnes of wheat. The
gross harvest of vegetables as well as fruit and berries, to name a few, set new records in 2019, standing at 14 and 3.5 million tonnes respectively.
Such performance allows Russia to steadily expand supplies to the global market. Nowadays, my country ranks first in the world in terms of wheat exports, second in terms of grain and
sunflower oil exports, and third in terms of barley exports. It is also one of the ten largest suppliers of fish, seafood, soy, and soy processed products.
Importantly, Russia continues to keep up the dynamics of its agriculture sector, making investments in the projects in breeding, genetics, biotechnology and boosting the output of safe and
high-quality products. These processes have not stopped even in the COVID-19 era. We have been able to ensure the smooth operation of agricultural organizations, fisheries, and processing
industries during this difficult period, with government direct financial support to the sector exceeding 1.3 billion USD.
In 2020, Russia plans to supply agricultural products to 160 countries for the total amount of 25 billion USD. To compare: according to the last year’s statistics, our relevant exports to
Taiwan was close to just 23 million USD, the level that certainly does not reflect the vast potential of bilateral cooperation in this field.
I personally believe that the existing opportunities for our cooperation in the agricultural sphere are overwhelming. I have no doubt that our Taiwanese partners will find our goods
competitive, and our approach – friendly and professional.
Sergey PETROV
Representative of the Representative Office in Taipei for the
Moscow-Taipei Coordination Commission on Economic and Cultural Cooperation
Taipei, October 2020
