On 10-17th September 2022, RUSSOFT Association held a business mission of Russian high-tech companies to Malaysia — Indonesia.
The anti-Russian sanctions served as a boost for the reorientation of Russian IT companies from the US and EU markets to the markets of friendly countries, and the rapid development of Southeast Asia created enormous opportunities for the export and cooperation of our companies in relatively new regions for us.
Southeast Asia is the fastest growing market in the world. The population of these countries shows a favorable attitude towards Russia, which in their eyes demonstrates the ability of technological independence from the United States. The countries of the Southeast Asian region also want to gain technological sovereignty and hope to achieve it in cooperation with Russia. RUSSOFT’s business mission to Malaysia and Indonesia is a clear proof of this thesis.
“For successful competition with companies from the USA and Europe that have already established themselves in the Southeast Asian market, it is important for our companies to have a friendly business model, and not to sell a “black box”, as “technological colonizers” have historically done. It is necessary to offer a turnkey solution, create joint ventures and train users; provide loans to customers and use other financial instruments to support exports from the state. And it is also important – for success in this market, we need our own large integrators capable of forming platform solutions,” says Valentin Makarov, President of RUSSOFT.
The business mission for high-tech companies was held with the direct participation of the Trade Mission of the Russian Federation in Malaysia and the Trade Mission of the Russian Federation in Indonesia. The participants were able to get acquainted with the peculiarities of doing business in Southeast Asia, take part in the World Congress on Innovations and Technologies WCIT 2022, as well as hold individual meetings with potential customers from the two countries.
The business mission was attended by member companies of RUSSOFT and the Association for the Export of Technological Sovereignty: GenAiTi, IBS Infinisoft, Kaspersky Lab, Solvo, T8, Security Code.
In Malaysia, a delegation led by RUSSOFT President Valentin Makarov held several meetings with representatives of state development institutions MRANTI and MIDA, as well as with leading potential clients from the oil and gas sector and the transport logistics sector (ARCORTUS System, STRATO Solutions, ICT Center, ITRAMAS Corp, and NATION Gate).
The companies participating in the trip visited the World Congress of Innovative Technologies WCIT 2022 Malaysia, which is held every two years by the World Alliance of IT Associations (WITSA) and is one of the largest events in the world in the field of ICT. The event was opened by the Prime Minister of Malaysia Ismail Sabri, the Chief Minister of the Penang Region Chow Kon Yo and Chairman of the Board of the National Technical Association of Malaysia PIKOM Dr. Sian Sean. At the congress, foreign and domestic investments in Malaysia’s digital technologies worth more than 46 billion Swiss francs were announced. Malaysia seeks to reduce the gap in the level of IT development not only in Southeast Asia, but also with the rest of the world, and therefore actively attracts investments in the development of digital technologies.
On the sidelines of the congress, RUSSOFT President Valentin Makarov also met with Dr. Sian Sean, Chairman of the Board of PIKOM, which ended with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the associations.
Valentin Makarov also took part in the forum panel organized for the heads of associations belonging to the World Alliance of IT Associations (WITSA). Together with WITSA General Secretary from the USA James Poizont and WITSA Deputy Chairman of the Board, Investment Advisor at Barcelona Ventures Silicon Valley Robert Franz Jansen, he discussed further opportunities for interaction and potential cooperation. In particular, the possibility of organizing a WCIT congress in Russia was discussed. Negotiations were also held with the heads of IT Associations in Brazil and Nigeria.
“WITSA traditionally acts on behalf of all IT Associations, trying to stay out of politics and serving the goals of developing the ICT sector in the global economy. This ideology has been promoted for many years by James Poysont (USA), permanent Chairman of WITSA. The leading position in WITSA has been occupied for several years by the PIKOM Association from Malaysia, and its President Dr. Sian Sean heads the WCIT 2022 organizing Committee.
WITSA has been and remains out of politics, acting in the interests of cooperation between the IT industry of all participating countries. This is evidenced by the fact that a representative of Russia participated in the opening of the Congress along with representatives of other countries participating in WCIT with their IT Associations, and I, as a representative of RUSSOFT, was invited as a full participant to the WITSA business breakfast, where topical issues of the development of the global IT industry were discussed,” – Valentin Makarov, President of the RUSSOFT, commented on the results of the meeting
In Indonesia, the participants of the business mission met with the Russian Trade Mission in Indonesia and the Jakarta Chamber of Commerce and Industry, system integrators PT. Tri Kreasi Mandiri Teknologi, PT. Svarnatech Jaya Solusi, PT. Epsindo Prima Solusi and a number of other IT companies.
The participants also got acquainted with representatives of the Indonesian Federation of Information Technologies FTII and the Association of the Internet of Things ASIOTI.
“The IBS Infinisoft team strives to diversify the geography of its presence and use the experience of developing software solutions in Russia to implement new projects on the international market. According to our estimates, the available solutions and expertise are most in demand in the ASEAN countries. These countries have adopted digitalization programs in the public sector (for example, MyDigital or Smart City), and local companies in various sectors of the economy are aimed at improving their efficiency through the introduction of new digital solutions. Initiated and organized by the RUSSOFT Association in the person of President Valentin Makarov, the business mission allowed us to collect primary information about the market of Malaysia and Indonesia. During the week-long trip, more than 40 companies and associations from ASEAN countries held meetings with IBS InfiniSoft to get information about the projects implemented by our specialists. The intensity of the meetings indicates the high interest of local players in new solutions and expertise. During the negotiations, many companies indicated their interest in building long-term relationships. In addition to expanding the geography of our presence, we are interested in forming and attracting local teams to implement new projects on the international market, as well as in gaining access to new products for subsequent implementation on the Russian market. I would like to separately note the professionalism of the teams of Russian Trade missions in Indonesia and Malaysia, who provided tremendous support in organizing meetings with partners, and thank the heads of trade missions Sergey Rossomakhov and Nikita Ponomarenko,” commented Sergey Rezontov, CEO of IBS Infinisoft, on the results of the trip.
