Mikhail Sadchenkov: By many requests Made in Russia is higher than Amazon or eBay

"We must tell the world about the achievements in terms of import substitution, about the creation of new brands, companies and new industries," said Mikhail Sadchenkov, the creator of the large-scale communication project "Made in Russia". He said this in an interview with the TV channel "Strana" (part of the VGTRK holding).

"Made in Russia" is a communication project aimed at promoting and recognising the country's business and culture on domestic and foreign markets. Within its framework, a catalogue of domestic companies and enterprises producing the most diverse and, at times, unique products has been created.

"The main objective of the project is to increase non-resource exports of Russia through information and communication support of Russian companies and brands," said Sadchenkov in an interview with the TV channel "Country". - Before the Made in Russia project, there was no single format that could tell internationally about what is produced in Russia, what we have done, what we are doing and what we have an opportunity to do in the future".

According to Mikhail Sadchenkov, the project is of practical benefit for companies: "It allows manufacturers, including those from the regions, to get an initial entrance to a new level of communication, having received presentations much cheaper than in the market. At the same time, in addition to all this, get the opportunity to publish their news, expert materials and, accordingly, to be visible in the world space because our portal is indexed as "Wikipedia", as there is no advertising on it and is not planned. For many requests, in English and Spanish, we are higher than Amazon or the same eBay. I think that this advantage will only increase over time.

The head of "Made in Russia" noted that the project has completed the pilot year 2015, within the framework of which as a brand and as an agency "Made in Russia" participated in business missions organized by EXIAR and the Ministry of Economic Development, was presented at significant events, was presented in Milan at Milan Expo 2015 with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. The project received feedback from the business community on whether or not they like the concept and individual services. The positive result was the reason that since 2016 the "Made in Russia" team started a large-scale promotion of the project through participation in specialized events, attracting as many companies as possible and developing tools aimed at promoting and supporting exporters.

"Russian goods are interesting for foreign buyers. We have many prospects for creating a quality product. And this is the main feature of our country," said Mikhail Sadchenkov. In his opinion, many of the things that are produced in Russia are already quite competitive. The regions also show good results. "We have seen the regions traveling to each other, adopting experience; export support centres are being established, entrepreneurship support funds are being set up that provide microcredits. Employees of state institutions are open, they can always be contacted for support, advice and assistance".

"It's too early to talk about import substitution," the expert believes. - This initiative is useful, necessary, but it takes time for its development. I think we will see the result in five, maybe six, seven years".

According to Mikhail Sadchenkov, the fact that there are a large number of projects that are trying to do everything qualitatively, quickly and interesting for the end consumer, with the support of the state, is good. "One should try to replace them, of course. First of all, we are talking about the defense industry, food, clothing".

Sadchenkov reminded about the National Technological Initiative. "It has a really good concept due to the fact that the current technological level should be raised by purchasing technologies, while trying to develop what will be relevant in 20-30 years, so that when a new cycle begins, we will have our own enterprises.

Mikhail Sadchenkov is sure that Russia has a great tourist potential, which should be used when developing roads, creating clusters and services.

Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev announced last week that the brand "Made in Russia" should become a symbol of successful purchase. He set a goal to export more agricultural products from the country than to import them. According to the Prime Minister, sooner or later the sanctions will be over and by that time domestic products should win over their competitors in terms of both quality and value.

Information agencies report that Russian producers are increasing export volumes and entering new foreign markets almost every day. Thus, today it became known that domestic enterprises will be engaged in supplying meat and fish to Iran. So far specialists are busy coordinating veterinary certificates. At the moment, Russia sends to Iran wheat, barley, corn, vegetable oils, as well as rolled steel, trucks and timber.