The current trade between T&T and Russia is still small but it is growing, says Nikolay Smirnov, Russian Ambassador to T&T. Smirnov has a slew of plans that will see relations grow between both countries in the area of trade, aviation and tourism.
"Concerning bilateral relations between Russia and T&T, people may know that diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on June 6, 1974. Taking into account the vast distance between two countries there is not much of bilateral trade. For the first half year of the current year, export from Russia to T&T equalled US$154,000. T&T mainly exports bituminous materials, mineral wax, ferrous metal. Russia imports cacao beans, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, vinegar, some pharmaceutical and medical products which in total came to US$82,000," he told the Business Guardian via an e-mailed statement last Friday.
Smirnov was also a guest speaker at a public lecture at the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies (UWI) two Fridays ago.
He is a non-resident ambassador to T&T, Barbados, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines and began his career as a diplomat in the then Soviet Union during the 1970s.
The Russian Embassy for the southern Caribbean is based in Guyana.
Today, Russia is part of the "BRICS" group of emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, some of the world's largest and fastest growing economies.
Geo-politically, Russia is also reasserting itself for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Within this context, Russia is seeking new trade and allies in the Latin American and Caribbean region and Russian President Vladimir Putin was part of the 6th BRICS Summit in Brazil in July.
Although shunned by Western leaders who have imposed sanctions on the Russian economy over the problems in Ukraine, Putin was warmly welcomed by BRICS and regional leaders.
To facilitate economic and commercial ties between Russia and T&T, Smirnov said Russia has an Honorary Consul of Russia in T&T, who is David Dulal-Whiteway, the managing director of Republic Bank.
"Soon we will finalise the process of appointing an Honorary Consul of T&T to Russia. Both of them will hopefully promote economic co-operation and cultural ties between T&T and the Russian Federation. There are Russian professors working in UWI."
T&T and BRICS
Smirnov noted that T&T is diversifying its trading patterns away form traditional North American and European ties to the BRICS countries.
He pointed out that the vibrant BRICS economies have already laid the foundation for a new development bank, which some argue will one day rival the US dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
"T&T is developing its relations with China and other countries of BRICS. At the last BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, the group of emerging economies signed the long-anticipated document to create the US$100 billion BRICS Development Bank and a reserve currency pool worth over another US$100 billion."
He wants to see closer co-operation among T&T and the Caricom region and Russia and the BRICS countries.
"In the upcoming 2015, Russia will be host of the next BRICS summit. We hope we will continue to cooperate with T&T and other Caricom countries."
Energy
Information on the Ministry of Energy's Web site (consolidated monthly bulletins of June 2014) indicates that Russia supplied Petrotrin with 2,163,514 barrels of crude oil between January and September, 2014, representing about 14.07 per cent of total imports for the nine-month period, which amounted to 15,372,415 barrels.
The data also reveal that Russia is the third largest supplier of crude to T&T in 2014 following Gabon (with 46.8 per cent or 7,109,870 barrels) and Colombia (with 16.2 per cent or 2,486,759 barrels).
Smirnov said Russia, like T&T, is an oil and gas producing country.
In October, Bloomberg quoted Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine as saying he had halted oil purchases from Gabon which had been T&T's only African supplier of crude oil for the past 20 months.
This followed the refusal by Petrotrin workers, represented by the Oilfields Workers' Trade Union (OWTU), to offload the MV Overseas Yellowstone which arrived from Gabon last week with half a billion dollars worth of oil.
Ramnarine said Russia would continue to be one of the places that T&T would import oil from.
"We cooperate in the frame of Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) and support our candidatures in different international fora. Recently, the Minister of Energy Kevin Ramnarine visited Moscow to participate at World Petroleum Congress. He was leading a delegation from T&T," Smirnov said.
Aviation
Smirnov is also hoping that Caribbean Airlines (CAL) purchases Russian-made passenger planes.
Speaking at UWI two weeks ago, he described some of CAL's planes as "ageing" and said Russia would be happy to sell aircraft to the airline.
"We are proposing co-operation in the aviation sector. One of the major Russian aircraft companies, Sukhoi Aviation Company, has proposed selling a civil Superjet 100 to CAL. We already sell them to different countries, including Mexico."
Media
In the area of the media, he wants the Caribbean region to follow the increasingly popular Russia Today (RT) news channel in English.
Over the last few years, many in the English-speaking world have diversified their news sources away from traditional US media and now RT has a global reach of over 700 million people in more than 100 countries.
"RT news covers the major issues of our times for viewers wishing to question more and deliver stories often missed by the mainstream media to create news with an edge. RT provides an alternative perspective on major global events, and acquaints an international audience with the Russian viewpoint."
Tourism
Speaking at UWI two weeks ago, he said the next World Cup in Russia will give both countries a chance to develop ties in tourism.
"I hope that T&T is preparing to take part in the World Cup in Russia in 2018. We know that T&T has already taken part in one World Cup in the past and we will be happy to see not only the T&T football team but many T&T nationals as tourists in our country in 2018. Over five billion people all over the world look at the World Cup and this helps build bi-lateral ties between the two countries."
Russian economy
The economy of Russia is a mixed economy with state ownership in strategic areas of the economy. Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 1.3 per cent in 2013 and Russia's Economic Ministry estimates 0.5 per cent growth in 2014.
Market reforms of the 1990s privatised much of Russian industry and agriculture, with notable exceptions in the energy and defence-related sectors. Abundance of natural resources, including oil, natural gas and precious metals, make up a major share of Russia's exports. As of 2012, the oil and gas sector accounted for 16 per cent of the GDP 52 per cent of federal budget revenues and over 70 per cent of total exports.
It is still left to be seen how Western sanctions will affect Russia's economy. On Monday, a BBC report indicated that Russia's Finance Minister, Anton Siluanov said falling oil price is costing Russia up to US$100 billion a year, while Western sanctions have hit the country by US$40 billion.