102
Y
ou are the President of the Rus-
sian section of the French Foreign
Trade Advisors and you have a
long experience of the Russian
business environment. What are the
current developments and the cha-
racteristics of the business context?
Today we are in a contrasted situa-
tion. Foreign investment is limited by
the European but above all American
sanctions that have been imposed on
Russia since 2014, while companies
have seen a recovery of the Russian
economy since 2017, which is leading
to a renewal of interest in this
market.
Although the geopolitical situation is
complicated, the Russian business
environment remains open to foreign
investors. Since the 2014 crisis, and
since the devaluation of the rouble,
the Russians at no time re-established
foreign exchange controls or a
control of the movements of capital.
Foreign investment has remained
free. At the same time, the legal
framework is also continuing to
improve: today, we have tools such as
alliances of partners, promises of
sale and limitations of warranties,
which foster the business climate.
We can therefore see that Russian
business law is getting closer to what
we know in Europe. 2018 began on
a note of optimism for French
companies that have operations in
the country, thanks to effects of the
economic recovery in certain sectors.
However, the new American sanctions
that were imposed on 6 April 2018
that will, for the first time, have
extraterritorial legal range, have
had a significant impact that is still
difficult to measure.
In response, the Russians have
decided to set up counter-sanctions,
and two bills were brought before the
Parliament. The first, which was
adopted recently, concerns the
framework in which the Russian
government can take sanctions
against countries that have imposed
sanctions on it and the second would
have the goal of creating a new crimi-
nal offence if a company or person
were refused a transaction due to the
sanctions.
David Lasfargue has lived in Russia for more than fifteen years and supports foreign
investors in implementing their projects in the country. He heads the French section
of the Foreign Trade Advisors, which consists of around fifty members.
David LASFARGUE,
President of the French Foreign Trade Advisors in Russia
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‘Russia is a land of
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