1. EXPORTING FROM RUSSIA TO THE UNITED KINGDOM
Luke Conner, Managing Partner of Conner & Company, President of the British Business Club in Russia

2. Managing Partner and President
Luke Conner LLB
Graduate of the University of Manchester and Nottingham Law School
English qualified solicitor
2003 – 2005: trained in the City of London with CMS Cameron McKenna LLP
2005 – 2007: Associate Solicitor at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in London
2007 – 2011: Associate at Linklaters CIS in London and Moscow
2011 – 2015: Senior Associate and International Counsel at Chadbourne & Parke LLP in Moscow
2015: founded Conner & Company
January 2017: appointed President of the British Business Club in Moscow

3. Today’s presentation
The British Business Club of Russia – some background.
How the BBC can work with Exporters.
What does Russia export to the United Kingdom?
Why export to the U.K.?
Brexit.

4. The British Business Club of Russia
Business and networking club based in Moscow.
Open to anybody in Russia of any nationality interested in doing business with the U.K.
Run by business people for business people; no bureaucrats nor paid employees; self-funded through event admission fees and sponsorship.
We host business, social, cultural and sporting events to allow our members to get to know each other and enhance B2B relationships through meaningful friendships.
Examples of forthcoming events…….
Our membership is currently free of charge and we would encourage and welcome interested parties to apply for membership at

5. How the BBC can work with exporters
The BBC is well respected and well connected and can help your company to liaise and set up meetings with British companies so that your sales team doesn’t merely rely on cold calling. An introduction will always works better!
We have a large and increasing membership database. Many of our members are permanently based in the U.K. even though our own focus is on Russia.
We can help you with the socio-cultural advice to make your project a success.
We can assist you in overcoming linguistic barriers.
In the U.K., accurate use of English and English grammar is paramount. Recent surveys showed that 74 per cent. of consumers noticed spelling and grammar errors on websites and that 59 per cent. adapted their buying habits as a result (Global Lingo poll).
Likewise, the British consumer hates websites that are an obvious poor translation of a foreign language site.

6. What does Russia already export to the U.K.?
Total amount $5.65 bn.
The usual suspects are the most prevalent: (1) refined petroleum $2.84 bln (50% of the total); (2) coal briquettes US$ 705 mln (12%); (3) crude petroleum US$ 700 mln (12%).
HOWEVER, ENCOURAGINGLY, RUSSIA ALSO EXPORTS A VAST ARRAY OF PRODUCTS TO THE U.K., WHICH MOST PEOPLE DON’T EVEN KNOW ABOUT:
shaving products US$ 2.49 mln;
paintings US$ 43.5 mln;
Newsprint US$ 7.42 mln;
fish fillets US$ 48.7mln;
sawn wood US$ 71 mln;
hard liquor US$ 59.6 mln (1.1%); and
antiques US$ 13 mln. PLUS MANY MORE…….

7. Why export to the U.K.?
The previous slide shows that there is significant opportunity.
The U.K. is a very large and extremely open economy.
Size: ranked 5th in nominal GDP terms (IMF 2016); low unemployment rate of 5.4 per cent (Eurostat Feb 2015); globalised economy with 2 per cent. economic growth (IMF 2017); 64.1 million inhabitants; fifth largest importer – over US$581 bln (CIS Factbook).
Openess: historical leader in free trade; multicultural society led by the diversity of London, meaning consumers are used to, and expect, diversity in product range.
Other benefits – global market with the highest online shopping penetration (i.e. percentage of people who used online shopping at least once) at 76% (Germany 72%; U.S. 67%; France 62%).
Highest ecommerce sales as a percentage of total sales 15.6% (Germany 9.4%; U.S. 7.7%).
All in all, very attractive figures.

8. BREXIT
For now Brexit is still a concept that needs to be realised.
The only significant identifiable impact for exporters is the value of sterling.
In a way, the Ruble has performed better than sterling over the last year, so this can be seen as a positive for you.
Plus, please don’t forget the highlights from the previous slide.
The U.K. will need to adapt to a world trading role, rather than a European one.
Russian businesses should embrace Brexit as an opportunity, rather than view it as a problem.
Engagement with British businesses and with clubs and organisations like ours will help you to prepare for and use this opportunity.
From a Russian exporter’s perspective, if goods are going directly from Russia to the U.K., there should be very little impact.

9. Sources
Statistics from MIT’s Observatory of Economic Complexity.
Plus, additional sources cited in the presentation.

10. President of the British Business Club
Thank you
Luke Conner
President of the British Business Club
Managing Partner of Conner & Company