Gurin says poor image of Russian goods hinders progress

London - Amtel-Vredestein CEO Alexei Gurin said in a formal speech that Russia's poor quality image is obstructing diversification in the Russian economy. Speaking at the 10th Annual Russian Economic Forum in London, he called for Russia's President Putin to redefine diversification and to identify and support three industries outside the energy sector in which Russia could become a quality leader by 2017.

In a statement, Amtel-Vredestein said, "Gurin believes that Russia can rapidly accelerate this change by focusing on several "Industries with Promise." This could be established with a three-step process: select the most promising industries or industry clusters, develop sensible criteria for funding the growth and advancement of businesses within these industries, and fund a Government-sponsored program to promote "Made in Russia" products domestically and internationally.

Gurin suggested that there may be numerous industries with promise, from which the government should chose three for special support, including: Automotive, Aviation, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Food Products, Software, even Tourism.

The chief executive said, "Taxation needs a quick, bold solution…not just more dialogue. High taxes and VAT make it much more expensive for companies like Amtel-Vredestein to invest in technology and equipment that we can bring back to Russia to produce better quality goods for the domestic markets and export - even while our international competitors are given tax holidays and incentives to compete against us." explained Gurin.

Amtel-Vredestein began manufacturing Vredestein tyres at its Kirov factory in 2006 for export to Europe. "We shipped 335,000 tyres last year. This year we plan to more than double that number. This is in addition to 500,000 Amtel tyres we export to other CIS countries."

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Press release from Amtel-Vredestein