Andrey Guryev, CEO of PhosAgro, Elected Chairman of the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs

MOSCOW, April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Andrey Guryev, CEO of PhosAgro and President of the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers, was unanimously elected chairman of the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs

This Business Council, which has been part of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry since 2003, is a partner of the Argentinean Argentine-Russian Business Council (headed by Antonio Estrany y Gendre, President of the Inter-American Council for Trade and Production and Co-Chairman of the Mercosur-EU Business Forum).

The Council's main tasks are the development of business ties and the establishment of mutually beneficially cooperation between Russian and Argentinean companies. It offers assistance to companies from Russia and Argentina in the search for business partners in both countries and increases trade turnover between countries through specific projects in the field of trade and investment.

The event was attended by Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce Vladimir Padalko; Executive Vice President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Victor Cherepov; Director of the Latin American Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Aleksandr Shetinin; Deputy Director of the Department for Asia, Africa and Latin America of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia Sergey Nosov; CEO of PhosAgro Andrey Guryeev; Deputy CEO for Government Relations of PhosAgro Valerii Fedorov; and representatives of the business community.

Commenting on his election as head of the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs, PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev noted that he sees his main task in the post to be the consolidation of services for Russian businesses, improving the effectiveness of interactions with Argentina, in line with the work of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, where he is already the chairman of the Russian-Argentine business dialogue.

He said: "The task is not only to increase trade turnover between Russia and Argentina, but also to improve technology exchange in traditional, hydro and nuclear energy; oil, gas and chemical industries; and enhance the effectiveness of business cooperation, particularly in the agricultural sector.

"As you well know, one of the most important and largest areas of trade between Russia and Argentina is in agro-industrial products and mineral fertilizers, necessary for increasing production efficiency. For the Russian mineral fertilizer industry, in addition to our domestic market, Argentina and the whole of Latin America represents one of the priority sales regions. In 2016, the volume of Russian fertilizers exported to Argentina increased 1.6 times to 521 thousand tonnes compared with 2015, and accounted for 43% of Russia's total exports to Argentina.

"A further increase in fertilizer exports to Argentina could be facilitated by the removal of import duties on high quality DAP fertilizers made in Russia, which do not contain harmful elements. Our clean and pure products are subject to import duties, while fertilizers containing harmful impurities are imported duty-free. Until recently, similar restrictions were applied in Brazil, but, thanks to the joint efforts of Russian authorities and fertilizer producers, the duty was abolished in 2014. If Argentina follows this example, Argentine farmers will stand to benefit from the opportunity to buy at least an additional 200-300 thousand tonnes of safe, contaminant-free fertilizers.

"I also know that there are issues that require quick solutions in other industries, within the framework of business associations of the two countries."

The Director of the Latin American Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexander Shetinin, noted that "the Russia-Argentina Council of Entrepreneurs, created 14 years ago, is called upon to facilitate the establishment of a direct business dialogue between the two countries. The election of Andrey Guryev as its chairman opens up new opportunities for intensifying such cooperation.

"Argentina is an important political and business partner for us and our cooperation has long historical roots, significant achievements and a promising outlook. We have already achieved a lot, but we can do much more. To this end, Russia's major economic forums will be useful. First and foremost, this is the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, within which, for the fourth year, we will organise a regional section with the participation of representatives of political and economic blocs. This year with the partnership of UNIDO."

Deputy Director of the Department for Asia, Africa and Latin America of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia Sergey Nosov stressed that "the effectiveness of such associations is at its highest when the initiative comes from business. Within the framework of the Inter-governmental Russian-Argentiain Commission on Trade-Economics and Scientific-Technical cooperation, we are actively interacting with business circles, since it is very important for us to have a direct dialogue with the business community and support specific company projects.

"We have to work on the qualitative improvement of our trade relations and diversification of commodity flows. The current structure of trade puts a high dependence of trade turnover on external factors, including the conjuncture in world markets."

Vladimir Padalko, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that "when the council was created in 2003, it was a unique structure through which Russian entrepreneurs could interact with the Argentinian market. Then this activity stopped. Now, with new qualitative changes in the structure of the Business Council, we hope that we will be able to intensify Russian-Argentine cooperation within the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry."

Viktor Cherepov, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, said that "the initiative for this appointment came from the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and in fact, for the first time in history, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Chamber of Commerce has united in its efforts at the Business Council. This should become an effective movement that can solve existing problems and increase cooperation between the two countries, in particular in increasing trade turnover."

Notes to Editors 

PhosAgro is one of the leading global vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers. The Company focuses on the production of phosphate-based fertilizers, feed phosphate and high-grade phosphate rock (P₂O₅ content of not less than 39%).

The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe, the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock worldwide and the third largest MAP/DAP producer in the world (excluding China), according to Fertecon. PhosAgro is also one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia. It is Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate.

PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, 33 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia.

PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and global depositary receipts ("GDRs") for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.