Download EU-Russia Relations: Challenges and Opportunities for Russian

Sinichkina Maria
EU-Russia Relations: Challenges and Opportunities for Russian
Investors in the European Union’s Market
Actuality of research
The European Union and the Russian Federation have been trying to find a
magic formula for stable relations and strategic partnership, based on foundation
of mutual respect for many years. They are both close neighbors and not able to
ignore each other. Russia is a large, dynamic economy for EU goods and services
with considerable economic growth. At the same time the European Union’s
market is by far one of the most important destinations for Russian investors,
since Russia is the country whose goals are to move towards the market economy
based on private capital investments and enterprise and to integrate rapidly into
the world economy.
So, the subject of this paper can be identified as EU-Russia relations,
where the issue of investment reciprocity is determined by Russian and EU
political leaders as one of the top priorities. Apparently both Russia and the
European Union will benefit from the growth of foreign investments and trade
operations. Indeed, there is an increased interest on behalf of Russian investors to
the European market, but at the same time there are a lot of barriers that
obstructing the development of contacts and cooperation at any level. That’s why
the topic of the present research includes challenges and opportunities for
Russian investment in the European Union. Thus, the thesis of this analysis can
be worded as follows: European market contains enormous opportunities for
Russian investment, but before taking advantage of them many obstacles should
be eliminated.
As for the significance of this research, it should be mentioned, that
without mutual interest in the increase of investment flows, construction of the
Russia-EU common economic space – the task which was declared in 2003 and
since then defines the major policy imperative of all the sides seems impossible.
So, the aim of this research is to induce investors to take steps towards
cooperation, as it is considered to be one of the prerequisites for the platform of
the future stability and integration of both sides.
We know a lot about the immense opportunities for European investors
in Russia and about the challenges, which trap them in the Russian market. But
we can not say that the description of the EU market is exhaustive as it is not to
some extent adequately explored. Russian investors could avoid many problems,
connected for instance with antidumping or unfair competition, in case they were
kept sufficiently informed of the ground rules. Unfortunately, there are few
researches aimed at providing such information and raising possibilities for
Russian investments. This reflects the novelty of the present.
The relevance of this study consists in the fact that the analysis that will
be carried out in this research is essential for deeper insight into the topic as a
whole. It can be helpful for Russian investors as it will provide them with
important data that is required for estimation of possible difficulties that they can
face and for ascertainment of aspects that should be improved in order to meet
the requirements of the European Union. So, this research can be practically
applied by specialists interested in investing into EU market and who are going
to start or expand their business there.
In the light of the above, the general purpose of the paper is to analyze
the most widespread mistakes made by Russian investors in the European
Union’s market and try to find possible solutions: may be the foundation of a
special independent moderator that will guarantee mutual support and
observation of the ground rules, as the modern globalized world dissembles a lot
of pitfalls.