An expanded meeting of the Russian-Thai Business Council was held in Moscow.

The expanded annual meeting of the Russian-Thai Business Council (RTDC) was held on March 11 at the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The event was attended by Sergey Katyrin, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sasivat Wongsinsawat, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Thailand to the Russian Federation, Sergey Cheryomin, Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations of the City of Moscow, and Sergey Cheryomin, CEO of the Tourism Corporation.Sergey Krasnoperov, Director of the Third Asia Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Lyudmila Vorobyova, Chairman of the Russia-Cuba Business Council, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSCB Absolut Bank Talibov Azer Mutalim oglu, heads of RTBC member companies.



One of the main topics of the meeting was the results of the work of the Russian-Thai Business Council in 2025. Ivan Demchenko, Chairman of the RTBC, made a report on this topic. Last year proved to be fruitful for the organization. The Council organized several of its own business events, the most striking of which was the First Russian-Thai Investment Forum in Phuket (Thailand). In addition, for the first time in history, business dialogues on trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Thailand took place within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) and the Eastern Economic Forum (WEF). RTBC organized a unique Russian-Thai gastronomic festival and became a partner of Chiang Mai Design Week, the largest design exhibition in Southeast Asia. The plans for 2026 are no less ambitious.



"This year we will again hold specialized sessions at the SPIEF and the WEF, as well as participate in more than 70 different business events, including the international travel forum Travel! and Digital Summit 2026. And, of course, we intend to organize the II Russian-Thai Investment Forum — It will be held from October 29 to October 30 in Bangkok. We see tremendous potential in cooperation between Russia and Thailand. The trade turnover between our countries increased by 11.4% last year and amounted to $1.76 billion. We offer effective tools for the implementation of joint business projects, including project consulting, the creation of joint ventures, the organization of marine cargo transportation and licensed production," said Ivan Demchenko.



Special attention was paid to the issues of strategic development of RTBC. At the beginning of this year, an Expert and Analytical Center was established on the basis of RTBC. In the interests of the business community, work is already underway to prepare analytical materials on the main sectors of bilateral trade and economic cooperation. A number of fundamental studies have been conducted on such topics as "Investment cooperation between Russia and Thailand", "Banking market and investment funds of Thailand", "Creative industries of Thailand", "Cultural peculiarities of doing business with Thailand", "Construction industry and real estate of Thailand" and others. A Russian-Thai certification center will soon be launched on the basis of RTDS. It will begin to promote the development of bilateral trade: to inform Russian and Thai participants in foreign economic activity about technical barriers to trade, as well as to develop and implement mechanisms to simplify business processes. In addition, a new RTDS Club business space will be opened in Moscow this summer. Vladimir Kovalev, Executive Director of RTDS, spoke about these areas of work.



"Today we bring together 55 companies from various sectors of the economy. RTBC is becoming a full-fledged business community. Therefore, we have planned to open a business space that will bring together large business owners, entrepreneurs, as well as heads of the public and commercial sectors and provide them with opportunities to implement promising projects in Asia, Russia and the world. The RTBC Club will open in June in the very center of Moscow on Sadovnicheskaya Embankment, offering its participants new infrastructure solutions for business events and a rich event program," said Vladimir Kovalev.



Special attention at the last RTBC meeting was paid to the development of the tourist flow between Russia and Thailand. According to official data, in 2025, Russians made almost 2 million visits to Thailand, while Russia was visited by a much smaller number of Thai tourists. The goal for the coming year is to narrow this gap.



"Tourism is one of the priority sectors of the Russian economy today. The development of tourism infrastructure in the Russian regions is one of the priorities. Corporation "Tourism.The Russian Federation is interested in developing cooperation with Thai partners, including in attracting direct investment in the creation of tourist facilities in Russia. Given the strategic partnership between Russia and Thailand, we, for our part, will do everything possible to ensure that relations develop as intensively as possible and make a significant contribution to the development of tourism in our countries," said the CEO of Tourism.Russian Federation" Sergey Krasnoperov.



Sergey Cheryomin, Minister of the Moscow Government and Head of the Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations of the City of Moscow, spoke about trade, economic and cultural cooperation between the capitals of Russia and Thailand, and also announced the holding of Moscow Days in Bangkok as part of the II Russian-Thai Investment Forum in October 2026.



In addition, at the last meeting, RTBC Chairman Ivan Demchenko and Alexey Maslov, Head of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation. The agreement is intended to develop educational, scientific, academic, cultural and other types of relations between the parties.