Article by Russian Ambassador to Australia Alexey Pavlovsky for EKONOMOS magazine titled The COVID-19 Pandemic and Russian-Australian Economic Cooperation - Australia

The Australian Business Summit Council Inc. has recently published the second issue of EKONOMOS, the official ABSC Inc. business affairs magazine. Among many articles by members of the Australian and international business and diplomatic community readers can find one written by H.E. Dr Alexey Pavlovsky, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Australia.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Russian-Australian Economic Cooperation

Early this year, the novel coronavirus infection emerged as a new and very serious challenge for all of humanity. Quarantines, border closures, interruption of global supply chains constitute the present-day realia. Unemployment is on the rise in many countries. All this weighs on the global economy, which will have to go through a lengthy and challenging recovery.

Speaking broadly, in the global context, the pandemic has yet again highlighted that all countries are interconnected, regardless of their geography, size and the level of economic development. All of them have been affected. The only way to cope with the global crisis is for all the countries to work together.

I am glad to note that Russia and Australia are basically on the same page as to fighting the pandemic: both countries are members of G20 and share the vision expressed in the joint statement of G20 leaders released in March, where the necessity to take all the necessary measures to contain the pandemic and protect people was emphasised. Both countries also firmly maintain that wide access to vaccination should be ensured for the population all over the world.

We do appreciate that at an early stage of the pandemic, the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity shared COVID-19 strain with the colleagues from the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector. I have no doubt it was instrumental in the success of that Russian scientific institution. Just recently they received Russian state certificate for the vaccine EpiVacCorona they developed. It became the second vaccine officially approved in Russia after the Sputnik V by Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology was registered in August this year.

The Doherty Institute contribution to the vaccine research in Russia is a vivid positive example of international cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.

Against this background, it looks really troubling that some countries are using the pandemic to promote their own well-known politicised, divisive agendas. One of their favourite tools, disinformation, has been heavily employed recently to discredit Russian achievements in procuring vaccine, including ridiculous allegations that it has been stolen from the West through cyber hacks. Such infodemic, as it came to be labelled, undermining joint efforts to fight COVID-19, should be condemned and firmly countered. We reiterate our willingness to establish epidemiological cooperation with all states and international organisations that might be interested in doing so. Recently, speaking before the UN General Assembly, President Vladimir Putin suggested organising a high-level online conference for countries interested in combining efforts in the development of anti-coronavirus vaccines.

As to economic ties between Australia and Russia, politicised agendas have done enough damage, and that long before the pandemic started.

Back in 2014, Australia chose to join anti-Russian sanctions initiated elsewhere. Russian counter-sanctions inevitably were imposed then on Australia. There is also an apparent negative impact of the so-called secondary sanctions. Due to the US practice of projecting abroad its national jurisdiction - which is illegal under international law - many Australian and Russian businesses while implementing their commercial contracts or developing joint ventures face difficulties accessing banking facilities.

However despite an unfavourable political environment, adverse effects of sanctions and the Russian-Australian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation being suspended on Canberra’s initiative, the bilateral trade turnover increased in 2019 by almost 5% exceeding 1,2 bln AUD. Many Australian companies have continued to do business in Russia successfully.

Indeed, business is about pragmatism. The international business community always finds ways to circumvent artificial restraints so often motivated, I must add, by trivial unfair competition. The question is why business people should divert efforts and resources for that instead of focus on what they are best at - promoting national and world economic growth, creating jobs and raising standards of living through developing their businesses.  We believe that the mission of Governments committed to the free-market economy is to encourage business activity rather than hamper it with artificial obstacles.

Hope, sooner or later this simple truth makes its way in the minds of Western politicians. It is all the more important nowadays that we must help the global economy through this crisis period and ensure its consistent post-COVID development. This goal should unite us all because this is about the welfare of all nations. Freeing the world trade from politically driven barriers, bans, restrictions, and illegitimate sanctions would be of great help in revitalising global growth and reducing unemployment.

I am sure both countries have much to gain from Russian-Australian cooperation in terms of post-COVID recovery, and business circles of our countries can successfully explore and make fair use of a range of mutually beneficial opportunities. Sure, bilateral economic ties, of course, could not avoid the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bilateral trade in the first half of this year contracted by 3,5 per cent, which is, however, not so bad, given that the world trade is expected to shrink by 9,2 per cent by the end of 2020. All in all, despite a relatively tiny volume of economic ties and negative trends due to COVID-19 pandemic,  the factors making Russia attractive for Australian business remain.

The Russian Government has put a lot of effort into the improvement of the business environment, and the results were tangible – the country has jumped from the 62nd to the 28th rank in the World Bank Doing Business index in the last five years. Regarding METS, Russia is a lucrative market where Australian companies enjoy an excellent reputation and are always welcome. My recent contacts with representatives of wine industry show there is an interest for both expanding wine exports to Russia and technological cooperation in this area.

Region-wise, Australians have every reason to take a closer look at the Russian Far East. Enormous natural resources are concentrated under its surface with many deposits still undeveloped. The city of Vladivostok, the Russian Far East capital, is the starting point of trans-Eurasian routes, such as Northern Sea Route and Trans-Siberian Railway. The Russian Government implements a long-term strategy aimed at ensuring the Far East is dynamic, open to the world and integrated into the economic, transport, educational and humanitarian space of the Asia Pacific.

Another essential point to consider is that Russia has established an integrated common market with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The Australian companies often operating successfully both in Russia and Kazakhstan have already felt the advantages of it.

The EAEU already has free trade agreements with Iran, Serbia, Singapore, Vietnam and negotiations are underway with Egypt, India and Israel. The Union has concluded an agreement on trade and cooperation with China and launched a program on cooperation with the ASEAN. It remains open for interaction with all foreign states. The ultimate goal is the Great Eurasian partnership, a comprehensive system of multifaceted cooperation between several overlapping integration projects, which not only will boost the prosperity of many nations but also should lay the foundation for equal and indivisible security in the Asia Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic.

It is one of the important goals of this Embassy to facilitate communications between Russian and Australian business circles aimed at mutually beneficial ventures. We maintain fruitful relationships with Trade & Investment Queensland and Global Victoria. Last year I participated in two productive roundtable discussions with  Australian  METS and metallurgic companies in Brisbane. The panel session on Russia and CIS countries at the IMARC-2019 conference in Melbourne was an indisputable success.

In previous years Australian business delegations used to be frequent participants in major annual international economic events in Russia, such as St Petersburg Economic Forum, Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok and Russian Energy Week, Mining World Russia exhibitions. In their turn, Russian representatives often participated in oil and gas conferences hosted by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA).

All of this has turned out somewhat problematic now due to travel restrictions. Many of the previously scheduled events, including forums in St Petersburg and Vladivostok, have been postponed or cancelled. Nevertheless, the business community is eager to maintain contacts in online formats. In particular, the well-known business organisation Australia Russia Dialogue (ARD) has arranged several video conferences with prominent experts on energy issues. Of notice is the interview with APPEA CEO Andrew McConville they recently released.

A new promising initiative by ARD  is to hold a Russian-Australian event in the framework of IMARC Online conference in November this year. I wholeheartedly support this idea and hope it will meet an enthusiastic response on the part of Russian and Australian business people.