Change in Russia is good for Kansas
<<Boris Yeltsin's resignation as president of Russia is expected to help Kansas business by creating more opportunity for trade, experts and exporters said Friday.
They said the new acting president, Vladimir Putin, and the rise of centrist parties in the Duma, the Russian parliament , can be expected to create a more stable political environment that should facilitate economic reform and international investment.
"I would look forward to a better environment there," said Bob Swan, president of the Corporation for Russian-American Enterprise.
The Lawrence-based pharmaceutical and health-care company is one of Kansas' largest exporters to Russia, doing $2.6 million business there in 1998.
Russia was an important buyer of Kansas agricultural products, particularly wheat, in the mid- to late-1980s, said Dharma deSilva, head of the Center for International Business Advancement at Wichita State University. "They were one of our best buyers," he said.
But trade between Kansas and Russia has since become erratic, deSilva said.
Yeltsin received rave reviews in 1992 when he visited Wichita as part of a trade tour of the United States. He drove a combine, scooped wheat out of the back of a grain truck and watched computer monitors track markets.
"I have come here to learn how you grow your crops and pack your meats, because we want to share your experience," he said.
But Yeltsin's failing health, along with a staggering economy and widespread corruption, have reduced the country's attractiveness for foreign business, deSilva said.
Now, Russia doesn't even rank in the top 10 purchasers of Kansas products, according to statistics from the Kansas Department of Commerce.
Putin, a former KGB officer, will likely exercise a certain amount of dictatorial control in trying to right the economy, said Ken Ciboski, a political science professor at WSU and an expert on Russian politics who has visited the country 13 times. But Putin and his political allies also recognize the importance of international investment and free markets and can be expected to continue liberalization there, he said.>>
by Dion Lefler
wichitaeagle.com |
