Very Important Report by General Director of the Russian Export Center Veronika Nikishina to Putin

Nikishina reported to the President on the development of non-resource non-energy exports of Russia

General Director of the Russian Export Center Veronika Nikishina holding Made in Russia Logo, like her lapel pin.

Here’s the Kremlin’s full explanation of the meeting:

Veronika Nikishina, General Director of the Russian Export Center Joint-Stock Company, reported to the President on the development of Russia's non-primary non-energy exports and the contribution of state export development institutions to the realization of the export potential of domestic businesses.

The old derogatory description by the West of Russia as a Gas Station with Nukes implied it had no other source of economic power. Of corse, that was never 100% correct but it did point to an area of Russian economic weakness and vulnerability that was exploited during the Cold War. When Putin became Russian president, he began a long-term effort to reverse that situation, make Russia’s economy resilient and protect it from the vagaries of hydrocarbon prices and Western attempts to lower Russia’s volume of their exports. Of course, hydrocarbon development continued as the newly forged friendship with China also came with access to that market primarily for natural gas. The area that was vastly improved was industrial and manufacturing through a series of steps taken during Putin’s first presidency and then his time as Prime Minister when he further implemented those initial steps. The 2014 sanctions as Putin has stated were a boon that forced Russia to increase its internal investment to improve itself while turning East and South for new markets. Several National Projects were organized to further boost and support these efforts. And since Putin, Russia has become an investment-based industrial economy very similar in its working to that of China, the results being almost as spectacular as those made by Russia when it moved its industrial base to the Urals at WW2’s outset. The report you’ll now read showcases how successful Russia has become in the face of an almost unprecedented economic war:

Vladimir Putin: Veronika Olegovna, with the insurance support of your group, one trillion 380 billion projects have been implemented, right?

V. Nikishina: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: What is missing? Money?

V. Nikishina: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

No. The Russian Export Center–-we are part of the VEB Group--is a specialized institute for supporting key sectors of Russian industry, such as mechanical engineering, forestry and agro-industrial complexes, metallurgy, and high-processing chemicals. At the REC, we understand the importance of this work, at least for the following three reasons.

First, no country in the world can be successful if it does not have effective and strong non-primary exports, because this characterizes the country's connectivity with key partners. This is exactly why for many years our economic power in these industries has been limited by various protectionist measures, and this began long before 2022–-just in 2022, as they say, the masks were dropped.

Second, non-primary exports form a cluster of globally competitive companies. And in order for them to maintain their leadership and compete in foreign markets, they need to constantly improve their products technologically. In other words, non-primary exports are such an engine of technological improvement and our leadership of these companies.

And third, which is very important, non-resource exports create high-performance jobs, high-paying jobs. Moreover, one workplace in the production of non-primary goods forms two jobs for subcontractors due to intersectoral cooperation. These are those who supply components, transport industries, technologists, engineers, and so on. Currently, six million jobs in Russia are created at the expense of non-primary exports.

We, the Russian Export Center, are part of the export support system, which has passed through three stages in recent years.

The first stage began in 2018, when in accordance with your Decree ["On national goals and strategic objectives for the development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024"], non-primary exports were defined as one of the national goals. In 2019, a national project was formed and the formation of the best export support system in the world–-and I will confirm this with figures-–began, which consists of three elements. These are tools, they were contained in the national project, they were provided with resources, and, accordingly, the infrastructure that provided these tools.

Why do we have the best state export support system in the world? From 2018 to 2021, our non-primary exports grew by 28 percent, which means that they grew at a rate significantly higher than the world's. In 2021, we had an absolute record for non-primary exports.

2022--sanctions. The second stage of life, the evolution of the export support system, has begun. The main task of this stage was to reconfigure the severed trade ties and reorient to the markets of friendly countries.

At the end of last year, we believe that we completed this stage–-we completed it quite effectively, because now in the structure of our trade, non-primary exports account for 85 percent of friendly countries. At the end of last year, our non-primary exports to friendly countries grew by eight percent in physical terms.

And from 2025, we are in the third stage. We would like to thank you once again for the fact that our updated national project ["International Cooperation and Export"] has also been approved among the national projects approved for the next strategic cycle.

On the results of the Russian Export Center's work during this period. Over the past four years, our support measures have supported non-primary exports by more than five trillion rubles, more precisely, five trillion 250 billion rubles, that is, every ninth ruble of non-primary exports went to foreign markets with our support.

We have developed a set of tools at every stage of the exporter's life cycle--from the origin of the idea to start exporting to the direct export transaction and even after-sales service.

I cannot fail to note the very important role of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in achieving the national goal, which is very ambitious, but feasible. In almost every region, regardless of its export power, we have formed and effectively operate regional highly professional teams.

A lot of governors personally and regularly promote the export assets of their regions. 83 regions have specially created infrastructure--export support centers for promoting small and medium-sized business exporters.

In general, I would like to say that our SME-segment exporters have shown very high adaptability to all the difficulties of the last period, starting with the coronavirus pandemic. Since 2020, the number of SME exporters in our country has almost doubled.

About our plans for the future. Last year, the updated strategy of VEB Group was approved, and the REC set a target to ensure at least 12 trillion rubles of non-primary exports by 2030. We understand how to solve this problem, and we are ready for it.

We will move in two directions. First, we will expand the geography of our export supplies. And we will increase the range of products that we are ready to offer our partners.

Here I would like to draw your attention to one of the most effective tools for raising awareness of our products abroad, because one of the problems for new markets is ignorance of our capabilities. This is the "Made in Russia" program.

We thank you for supporting this program. If you remember, last year in Harbin, at the EXPO, you visited our stand. Our stand was one of the elements of our festival and fair "Made in Russia". The interest of Chinese consumers in Russian products after such events is huge.

Even the foreign media noticed us. Just last week, both Bloomberg and CNN wrote about our program, its effects, and the fact that China, as they wrote, is booming for Russian products.

Since last year, we have held five festivals in different provinces of China and in the United Arab Emirates. Since this year, thanks to your support, the program has become a government program. We are currently working with the Ministries of Industry, Agriculture, Culture, Sports, and Economy to develop an action plan.

I would like to report separately on our partnership with ASI [the Agency for Strategic Initiatives]. Starting this year, our "Made in Russia" program becomes a partner of the "Know Our People" contest–-a growing brand contest that you support. The winners of this competition this year and beyond, who have export potential, will be the users of all our support measures to promote the "Made in Russia" program.

We wanted to present such a bird as a symbol of our partnership with ASI. This tricolor bird is the logo of our "Made in Russia" program. We create awareness of our products: we mark such a bird and products, and electronic virtual shelves under the umbrella brand "Made in Russia", and pavilions–-and it already" flies " to many markets of friendly countries.

This bird is made by the hands of masters of the Nizhny Novgorod brand "Khokhloma", and this is an updated design of the brand "Khokhloma". Personally, the governor [Gleb Nikitin] promotes products to foreign markets. We believe that this bird, this gift is a symbol of the fact that a strong country brand "Made in Russia" is the sum of strong brands of individual Russian companies, which we have more and more.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. [My Emphasis]

And if the investment into the creation of this agency hadn’t occurred, the results would be dismal. The sanctions regime would have been far more effective. And this government support is not just for state/publicly owned enterprises, but for small and medium sized companies whose numbers have doubled thanks to this program. Unmentioned most of the time is a public corporation organized by Putin in 2007, the Roscongress Foundation which is “a socially-oriented non-financial development institution, the largest organizer of all-Russian, international, congress, exhibition, business, public, youth, sports, and cultural events.” The Foundation supports the REC’s trade exhibitions internationally and thus supports Russia’s growing economy. Indeed, there’s a plethora of organizations founded as businesses and business promoters that were born over the 25 years of Putin’s leadership, some ideas being his but many coming from team members and from outside the government. Recall that Russia has a unique tri-sector configuration acting as the consultants to its economic planning: Labor, Business and Government. The result is the hybrid Social-Capitalist system now in existence and steadily being improved. I recently read an excellent overview of China’s economy, “China’s Economic Model Revisited,” that can provide an insight into what Russia’s doing as the two nations are clearly sharing experiences along with trading. The major match is China’s economic power is based on its massive public investments in most areas of the economy, particularly massive infrastructure investment made and owned by the public so the semi-private and private systems can benefit and thus benefit the overall society. The key is the elimination of most rent seeking opportunities, an area Russia still needs to improve.

In closing, I must again remind readers what Putin forwarded as Russia’s future plans just over thirteen months ago in his Leap Day Address to the Federal Assembly and then added to in his speech to the Congress of Russian Industrialists and Entrepreneurs just a few weeks ago. Yes, both are long reads, but they are critical if people want to know and understand what Russia has planned and how it aims to accomplish its goals despite continual Western interference. Yes, the SMO will end, probably at the beginning of 2026, but the illegal sanctions will continue as promised. And who knows what other absurdities Team Trump will concoct.

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