Resolution of the Second Russian Forum of Associations

The 2nd Russian Forum of Associations was held on June 18, 2020. The event was held online.

The Second Russian Forum of Associations brought together representatives of more than 200 associations uniting over 70,000 domestic producers of goods and services and over 170,000 specialists in various industries.

As you know, the "StekloSouz" Association of Russia was represented by the president, Viktor Ivanovich Osipov.

Heads of a number of departmental institutions and government bodies became the Forum participants, representing state institutions of government.

The Forum was organized by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs. General partners and sponsors were RussCom IT Systems and EventBank, a digital platform for automating associations.

Summing up the results of the Forum, its participants emphasized that many Russian professional associations, as well as other professional communities of economically developed countries of the world, continue to play an important role in shaping the social and economic life of their state. Associations carry out independent industry expertise, train and develop industry specialists, spreading valuable best practices, come up with legislative initiatives, exercise public control over compliance with obligations by the authorities and management, and hold industry events of various directions and formats. The presence of powerful industry associations develops and structures the economy, is an effective catalyst for industry segments in industry, trade and services.

As a result of the discussion held at the Forum, a brief analysis of the practices of industry associations was made, the most successful models of the work of associations and unions existing in Russia and abroad were demonstrated. At the same time, a number of pain points and problems that exist in the life of Russian professional communities were noted. Undoubtedly, some of the identified problems can be solved by public organizations themselves, in solving others the state should come to the rescue. Based on this, the participants of the Forum discussed possible measures of state (including financial) support for industry associations.

A separate block in the discussion was sectoral congress and exhibition events as a tool for marketing and promoting Russian goods in Russia and abroad.

It should be noted that the congress and exhibition industry, despite the deep crisis of forced shutdown of activities associated with the pandemic, has undergone a profound transformation and acquired new unique in terms of efficiency tools for providing services not only on direct communication platforms, but also in integrating them with online opportunities and solutions.

In the context of the economy emerging from the crisis, it can become one of the locomotives for all business sectors as a unique tool that provides the necessary opportunities for promoting goods and services. In this regard, joining the efforts of industry associations and representatives of the event industry is becoming more expedient and synergistic than ever. Supporting such a professional tandem at the state level will definitely lead to the most efficient use of financial and management resources, ensuring the best economic result.

As a result, as a result of discussions on the topics raised at the Forum, decisions were made:

1. To improve the system of interaction between state institutions and industry professional associations of Russia, for the development of congress and exhibition activities, as an effective marketing tool aimed at promoting domestic goods and services to the domestic and foreign markets. Highlight the importance of the exhibition industry as a separate branch of the Russian economy.

2. To recommend the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation to intensify the work of the Interdepartmental Commission on Exhibition and Fair Activities on a regular basis, updating its composition.

3. The RF CCI together with the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs and other interested business associations, as well as taking into account the opinion of the congress and exhibition industry by the end of 2020, to prepare a draft Federal Law "On Exhibition, Fair and Congress Activities" for its further direction for approval to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia. To support the development of a unified conceptual framework for exhibition and congress activities, the approval of relevant standards and the expansion of the list of OKVED codes for the industry.

4. Support the initiative of the Russian Export Center (REC) to more actively involve industry associations in the work aimed at improving the quality of interaction with exporters, receiving feedback on the provided support measures and their subsequent development.

5. Combine the efforts of the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation and complete jointly the creation of a territorial-sectoral matrix of congress and exhibition events in the Russian Federation, in order to increase the efficiency of their holding, taking into account economic condition of each region, its strategic guidelines and opportunities.

6. Taking into account the high importance of Russian industry unions and associations in business development in the context of overcoming the crisis and recovering the country's economy, it is necessary to contact the Government of the Russian Federation with a request to consider the following support measures:

6.1. To ask the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Industry and Trade) to initiate the expansion of state support measures, similar to those provided for SMEs, to non-profit organizations, including unions and associations, and associations of entrepreneurs.

6.2. To ask the Ministry of Finance of Russia, with the participation of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, to prepare amendments to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in terms of attributing contributions of founders (participants, members) and donations to finance the statutory activities of entrepreneurial associations (associations), including in part of the rationing of the amount of expenses for payments to associations of employers, subject to accounting when calculating corporate income tax, in an amount not exceeding a certain percentage of labor costs.

6.3. To support the need to vacate the exhibition space occupied by temporary hospitals of the reserve fund and to resume the work of exhibition centers in September 2020 if the situation with the spread of the new coronavirus infection improves;

6.4. Support the exclusion of specialized industry exhibition events from the category of entertainment mass events and the recognition of their special status (by analogy with the activities of large shopping centers);

6.5. Initiate the introduction of special subsidies for enterprises in the exhibition, fair and congress industry, in the amount of at least half of the total amount of all types of taxes paid by the relevant enterprises in 2019.

Application:

Letter to the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation D.V. Manturov

Letter to the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation M.G. Reshetnikov

Letter to the Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation A.G. Siluanov

Respectfully,

Press center "StekloSouz"