Doing business in Russia presents tremendous opportunities to American companies in a variety of fields. Russia, the biggest country in the world with a population of 140 million people, has made significant progress in recent years to become the eleventh largest economy. The country’s GDP per person is higher than that of all the other BRIC countries. Russia’s ever-expanding middle class, the rising level of disposable income, coupled with significant infrastructural projects, make the country one of the most attractive places for doing business. Russia’s human talent is just as considerable as its natural resources wealth. The Russian workforce is young and highly-educated. The standard of living in the country is going up every year. Russian consumers are well-known for their good taste and preference for quality products.

Russia has three credit ratings of investment grade from Fitch, Moody’s, and Standard & Poor’s, and the outlook is positive. Companies in the non-extractive sector demonstrate good financial results. A number of Russian companies have recently done successful IPO’s on Western stock exchanges.

The economy of Russia started on the path towards recovery after the global economic downturn. The gross domestic product expanded by four percent in 2010 and is expected to grow by 4.2 to 4.3 percent in 2011. According to the Economic Development Ministry, the GDP is forecast to grow by 3.7 percent in 2012, by 4 percent in 2013, and by 4.6 percent in 2014.

In 2010, Russia took the 37th place on the list of U.S. export destinations. Russia is the 17th largest exporter to the United States. As such, the value of American goods supplied to Russia last year was USD 5.97 billion, a figure 12 percent over 2009 results. The value of Russian imports into the United States was USD 26.5 billion, reflecting an increase of 41 percent compared to 2009. 

The total volume of American investment in Russia today is around USD 21.3 billion, putting the U.S. companies in the tenth place among all foreign investors in the country.

This year, Russia plans to finalize its accession to the World Trade Organization, which would allow it to realize significant economic benefits as the result of the reduction of its import tariffs and the liberalization of domestic policies. Adherence to WTO rules and agreements, especially the use of binding dispute settlement to protect trading interests, is also expected to be a significant factor for improving Russia’s commercial relations with Western countries.

American companies seeing a potential in working with Russia should seize the moment and come to the Russian market while the barriers to market entry do not outweigh the potential gains that could be achieved from a successful launch of business operations in the country.