According to experts, some 80-85% of construction materials used in Chechnya are made in China. People usually buy them in Khasavyurt in nearby Dagestan or Pyatigorsk in Stavropol Territory. The statistics of 2007 demonstrate that some 2000 private vehicles cross the Chechen-Dagestani border every day, and almost all of their owners are going to Dagestan to buy high-quality construction materials, such as tiles or plumbing supplies.
Meanwhile, some 70% of traders in Khasavyurt are of Chechen origin. So the situation presents a bit of a paradox: Chechen people go to Dagestan to buy merchandise from Chechen traders, paying additional money for transportation.
The authorities have been trying to boost small business development in the Republic since 2004. And now Chinese businessmen are offering Chechnya their help in this regard. This cooperation will be carried out in the framework of the ‘Great Silk Way’ program, launched in China some time ago. The aim of the program is to boost the speed of land transportation of Chinese merchandise to Europe. The longest sections of this route go through the territories of Kazakhstan and Russia. Chinese businessmen suggested opening an international trade hub in Grozny that would become a wholesale base for the whole region.
First of all, several retail trade markets will be opened in Chechnya. It will provide additional jobs as well as lead to a considerable decrease in prices of essentials. The next step will be to create several small and medium-sized enterprises that will produce essentials in the republic, thus cutting any losses incurred on transportation. According to the head of the Chinese business delegation, Choy Pan, they are interested in virtually each and every sector of the Chechen economy – agriculture, industry, transport, tourism, oil production and mining, etc.
According to Choy Pan, now is the time to uncover the Republic’s potential, and it would provide a great opportunity to put the ‘Great Silk Way’ project to work, a project that would provide an economic bridge between the diverse cultures of West and East.
The Chechen administration agrees that cooperation with Chinese businessmen could prove very fruitful and granted the project their full support.
Timur Utsaev, exclusively to VK
