Home > News > Summer 2006 > Petrozavodsk

A Visit to Petrozavodsk

By Michael Poland

I recently returned from a 16-day trip to northwest Russia. I spent a few days in Saint Petersburg but I spent most of my time in Petrozavodsk, a city of 280,000 people six hours directly north by car and 7½ hours by train. This was my third trip to this area. Most of my time was spent with a family, the Kozlovs, with whom my family has in contact with since 1997.

I spent 3 days of the trip on business. I have a part-time consulting business of looking for new business prospects and matchmaking for joint ventures or pre-trade negotiations. I have done work in Ireland and the Netherlands. I have always been interested in Russia, how business is conducted there and what kinds of opportunities are available to US business interests.

I got information from the US Department of Commerce that was outdated and information from the Maine International Trade Center that was either very vague or that I could have found for myself. So I set up my own trade mission by using the Internet. I decided whom I wanted to meet and contacted these people by e-mail.

My friend and interpreter, Irina Kozlova, made follow-up calls for me a week or so before my trip. I also consider Irina my business partner whenever I do business in Russia. Although she has no business training, she is a natural in the way she handles herself in these intense meetings. Irina also added nongovernmental organizations to my meeting list, as she shares my interest in community service.

I met with the Petrozavodsk City Council, the City Waste Processing Administrator, and the City Architect. I also met with the area Chamber of Commerce, the Karelia State Minister of Economics and his staff, and the State Minister of Agriculture to see what business opportunities were available and in what sectors. This last meeting was a surprise to me. It was arranged as a personal favor by Igor Kozlov, the head of the family I stayed with. Igor and the assistant minister served together in the Russian Army.

I was interested in what the city of Petrozavodsk was doing in the area of recycling. I was interested in it from a personal and investment standpoint. I found out everything I needed to know in three different meetings.

The first meeting was with the City Administration. We went over their feasibility study of an alternate sorting and processing plan with possible outside investment. The city admitted at that time that they have a trash problem. The trash is being dumped into a large gulley and bulldozed flat after valuable items are picked out of the loads by the homeless, about 18 kilometers north of the city.

Next I met with the Chamber of Commerce, and I was introduced to the person who is the competitor to the city. This person had bought an old factory and a large piece of land in hopes of getting some or all of the trash business from the city. In this meeting, this person never looked me in the eye and said he would need $500,000 right up front for a joint partnership. He had no business card, e-mail or business address, and only offered me his cell phone number. The end of the meeting was the end of any business deal with that person. I did get a useful piece of information from him: he stated that the city trash administrator was sending all the valuable materials to St. Petersburg from the landfill and pocketing the money.

The next day I met with the City Administration again, including the City Architect and the City Waste Processing Administrator. We had a talk about possible investments within the city, recycling, and a possible exchange between Petrozavodsk and the state of Maine for recycling education. I talked with the Waste Processing Administrator about curb recycling instead of sorting these types of materials out of loads at the landfill. He said right away that this absolutely would not work. If what the competitor said is true, then he would not want people in the city to see the amount of valuable materials that were coming out of the waste stream out of their sight. This case is closed as far as I am concerned.

In addition, and of great interest to me, was the meeting I had with a group of the economics professors from the state university. They are looking to create what we would call "planned communities." These will be villages or developments that will provide affordable housing that is not under the control of the city administration. They are currently looking for private investors and foreign expertise in building and layout designs. Their other plan was single houses of panelized, pre-fab, or modular construction. Some housing in Petrozavodsk has been privatized, but privatization is not a blessing, because of shoddy construction. Repairs would be unaffordable for the new private owners.

I met with two NGO's to help find funding for these groups, one being No Barriers, a group for young disabled adults that helps such people become useful citizens through education, job placement, and housing. This group also promotes handicap accessibility in the city. The other group was called Initiative, whose mission is to develop and promote volunteerism among the city's youth and young adults. They hope to assist young Russians to get education abroad, take part in international exchange programs, and create sustainable volunteer organizations at home.

I also met with the international affairs director at the state university to talk about business, teacher, and student cultural exchanges between the state university and Thomas College or any other interested parties.

I very much enjoy the hospitality of my friends in Russia. I am looking forward to my next trip. As I tell my Russian friends, there is nothing like Russian hospitality!

<— Back • Top

About Us | About Kotlas | Newsletters | Impressions | Our Projects | Membership
Other Exchanges | Contact Us | Home