ExpoGlobus.com

Various Russian regions were represented at International Green Week, the food and agro-industrial sector exhibition held in the German capital in mid-January, with a myriad of diverse stands. What aims and challenges do the Russians who’ve arrived in Berlin set themselves? How do the German visitors view the Russian pavilion?

We wanted to discuss this with someone who was not here for the first time. And we found Sergey Grishin, the manager of the stand for the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region and director of the regional museum and exhibition complex.

“How often you attend Green Week?”

“This is already our eighth visit. On our first visit we were testing the waters and wanted to see how to better position the autonomous region. Since then, we’ve exhibited properly already seven times in the Russian pavilion. During the official opening, the region’s presentation was conducted by our governor, Yury Neyelov. We are established and dependable partners of the organisers of the Green Week exhibition.”

“Based on your experience, how do you see the exhibition?”

“I will tell you about my observations, well, over eight years I have formed a reasonably objective impression. Green Week is an agro-industrial and agricultural show. Agricultural producers, processors and sellers meet here, sign contracts, find solutions to financial questions. But the majority of ordinary visitors to the exhibition come here to relax and eat good food, while at the same time gathering an enormous amount of information. The various countries represent their traditional cultures and cuisines. Yes, agricultural production is the main thing on show, but lifestyles are also represented. A good-natured, homely atmosphere has been established here over the course of several decades. It is a successful symbiosis of disseminating information and conducting modern business.”

“And how do visitors view the work of your stand?”

“Our original aim was to show our region, representing the Russian Arctic regions and the circumpolar world, as objectively as possible. I’d like to say that visitors don’t wander about mindlessly, and if it is boring at a particular stand, they simply won’t go there. The Russian pavilion enjoys a great deal of popularity, people take a good-natured and keen interest in getting to know about our country. The Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region has an ancient and beautiful history and unique cultural traditions in a harsh region, in the conditions of the Arctic winter. Over the centuries people have adapted to the extreme conditions and live in perfect harmony with nature, handing down the traditions of their ancestors from generation to generation. We run a large number of interactive events which engage visitors in the life of our stand. Many people recognise us, they visit us regularly. If you had come to our stand thirty minutes earlier, you’d have been just in time for the tasting of sandwiches with the reindeer meat which we deliver to Germany and Scandinavia, and the fish which is on show in our displays. However, feeding visitors each day is not an end in itself for us.”

“We are standing at a display with a baby mammoth…”

“That baby mammoth is called Lyuba. There are only five mammoth cubs in the world, all found at various times on the territory of Russia, but the degree of this baby mammoth’s preservation is more than 90%, the best. This unique find is 42,000 years old, the baby mammoth is five or six months of age. It was found on the Yamal peninsula by our reindeer herder Yury Khudi. Of course, the display shows only a model. It was here, at the display with Lyuba the baby mammoth, that they held the meeting between our heads of state deputy prime minister Viktor Zubkov and minister for agriculture Yelena Skrynnik and Germany’s minister for agriculture Ilse Aigner. They were present during the signing of the contract between the firm Yamal Deer, from our region, who deal with the processing of reindeer husbandry production, and the German company Brodersen & Köver, concerning the supply of reindeer meat to the German market. It was an important event from an economic viewpoint.”

“In your opinion, what role does Green Week play in the relationship between the Russian Federation and the European Union?”

“The creation of the European Union was the product of the aspiration to come closer together and build greater mutual understanding. Today the inhabitants of the European states already consider it normal to live with open borders. And this process continues, after all, the most important thing is to get to know each other, to develop trust at the level of the leaders and ordinary citizens, mutual trust between businesses. Green Week demonstrates good practice for the solving of the relevant issues, including financial ones. I’ll give you an example. To reach a position where we could sign a contract this year with a German company for the supply of reindeer meat, which is in demand in the countries of Europe, over the course of several years we tackled the problem of getting a European certificate, as there are masses of problems in the finer points of relations between the countries. There is lobbying on the part of certain businesses, there are some political difficulties, but we managed to do everything in a normal civilised way and get this certificate, working together with our European partners we’ve built some modern processing plants in our autonomous region, and those plants have also been certified by the appropriate commissions in the European Union. We have got all the necessary documents, we’ve gained experience, we’ve won the trust of our partners and the consumers. Yes, there are customs and tax difficulties and masses of others obstacles, but that is completely normal. We are growing closer, and we understand the importance of growing closer, and for this it is essential to learn to trust one other. And in order to develop trust, we need to understand one other, to know each other’s history and culture and approach our cultures respectfully.”