Development of the "My Export" platform discussed at the RUSSIA EXPO

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On April 10, the business session "How Digitalization Changes Exports" was held at the International RUSSIA EXPO at VDNH. The discussion focused on the role of the "My Export" digital platform, designed to provide businesses with online access to government and other services that accompany companies' exports. The Russian Export Center (REC, part of VEB.RF) launched the platform in 2020 as part of the national project "International Cooperation and Export" and continues to develop it.

Speakers at the session included Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, the REC CEO Veronika Nikishina, First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Vasily Osmakov, and Head of Rosselkhoznadzor Sergei Dankvert.

The event was moderated by Sergei Ivanov, a successful active exporter — executive director and member of the board of directors of Efko Group of Companies. The company sells yogurts, spreads and mayonnaise, ketchups, milk under the Sloboda brand, vegetable oils under the Altero brand and others.

"'My Export' is gaining popularity among exporters. In 2023, more than 10 thousand personal accounts of active participants of foreign economic operations have already been registered on the digital platform. This is twice as much as in 2022. More than 115 thousand services of various kinds have been provided to exporters, which is 5.8 times more than in 2022. At the same time, 37 services, which are available today, are fully digital. The most popular of them are issuance of certificates of origin of goods, requests for licenses to export certain goods, requests for veterinary and phytosanitary control and obtaining relevant certificates, as well as receiving support measures. And a lot of experience has already been accumulated, which makes it possible to dive into this topic in a meaningful way and discuss how digital technologies serve the prosperity of Russian exports specifically on the 'My Export' platform. Therefore, I am sure that today's session will enrich the participants with new knowledge on how the data-based system actually supports exports right now and what opportunities it opens up for exporters and for strengthening their positions in international markets," said Alexei Overchuk, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

In turn, Veronika Nikishina, CEO of the REC, spoke about an innovation that will help users of the platform to navigate among the large number of services and support measures presented on the platform.

"An exporter or potential exporter on their customer journey faces four groups of tasks that have to be solved. You need analytics that enable the business to make the right marketing management decisions, in addition to that you need various business services, whether it's financial services, logistics agents or assistance in getting onto marketplaces. And, of course, state support, which in turn is divided into receiving compensation and obtaining various permits. We have tried to organize these groups of tasks in the form of services. Now there are more than 125 services on the platform, navigation in them sometimes can be difficult, so today we present our new service — "Unified Service Catalog", which allows you to navigate through our support measures in a completely new, proactive format," said Veronika Nikishina.

Vasily Osmakov, First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, noted that the basic task of the National Project "International Cooperation and Export" is the system of export support throughout the entire life cycle.

"At first, the system of support for the entire life cycle was created on paper, but now it has been created digitally. And while in 2021 we started with one service, the most popular one — logistics subsidies, now we have seven different services — certification, R&D, compensation for expositions, and the most complicated, probably, export licensing. For us, the digitalization of work with the 'My Export' service allows us to effectively solve our tasks, while making life easier for exporters. The coverage of support measures is growing by orders of magnitude. Therefore, we will continue to work within the framework of the revised national project," emphasized Vasily Osmakov.

Sergei Dankvert, Head of Rosselkhoznadzor, said that the agency annually issues 4.6 billion documents, of which today 95% of phytosanitary certificates and 35% of veterinary certificates are received through the platform "My Export".

"When creating this system years ago, we realized that we would turn from the largest importer into the largest exporter, and we realized that the Government correctly oriented itself in a certain period of time, when we created REC and began to support exports, and when we began to orient by Government instructions towards what we should try to do digitally. Digital systems make it possible to assess a lot of things today, including for exports," said Sergei Dankvert.

"From the very beginning of the platform's work, one of our priorities has been the development of the block of authorization documents, on which we are working together with our partner agencies. And here one of our main and respected partners is Rosselkhoznadzor. When implementing services on the 'My Export' platform, we and Rosselkhoznadzor managed to achieve complementary functionality: Rosselkhoznadzor's decision-making functions are fully preserved, while we focus on interaction with clients: administration of the client path and building feedback mechanisms with exporters. Let me remind you that the 'My Export' platform is primarily focused on the user — our exporting client. We offer an intuitive interface. In your personal cabinet you can track the status of your application in real time. This ensures the transparency of the process and makes export activities more predictable and convenient for clients," added Yuri Datsenko, Senior Managing Director for Implementation and Development of the "One Window" project.

Pavel Shabalov, Director of Export Promotion System Development, explained how domestic companies can take part in expositions and business missions supported by the REC. He specified that since the launch of the program in 2019, the volume of export contracts as a result of participation in the events amounted to over 90 billion rubles.

"The digital service to support participation in expositions and business missions was designed to solve several issues at once, with the main ones being the optimization of document flow and the elimination of the "human factor". The launch of the service on the 'My Export' portal allowed to reduce the period of preparation, submission and selection of the application from 4-5 weeks to 1-2 days. At the same time, the system automatically receives all necessary documents and information from the database and the exporter does not need to provide anything on paper or in scans. It has also made it possible to switch to fully automatic scoring of applications based on companies' economic indicators characterizing their export readiness. Since the launch of the service at the end of 2020, over 10,000 applications have already been generated with its help," said Pavel Shabalov.

Being aware of the Russian entrepreneur's desire to trade to the whole world, despite the current difficulties, the REC is developing a unique project that makes it possible to attract foreign businesses, their infrastructure and competencies, to sell Russian goods anywhere on the planet. Thus, the client of "My Export" does not need to open a foreign legal entity, nor to look for a warehouse abroad, but only to apply for placement of products in one or several of 36 national stores on 17 international electronic trading platforms, said Alexei Murzenok, Director for International Partner Programs. The system itself will select a suitable store and suggest an accredited partner. Thanks to this project, in 2023 foreign consumers placed about 1.5 million orders for Russian goods in China, Vietnam, UAE, Turkey, Singapore and even in Europe and the United States.

He specified that in 2023, three Russian platforms (Wildberries, OZON, Avito) entered the top of the world's marketplaces in terms of attendance. 91% of entrepreneurs are interested in the development of sales to the whole world.

In turn, Director of Partner Infrastructure and Non-Financial Products Development at the REC Artur Zavyalov spoke about the development of the "Export Professionals" service. This is a B2B marketplace, where 39 services are available, grouped into nine most important areas for foreign economic activity: from obtaining analytical research of foreign markets to organizing a full cycle of logistics support. Each service is standardized, the composition and scope of work to be performed by the contractor is defined.

"We would like to note separately that a special product line is provided for companies in the SME segment, within the framework of which the services of commercial providers in the field of foreign economic activity can be paid in full or in part at the expense of the state subsidy. By launching such services on the 'My Export' platform, we have made support measures more accessible for companies starting and developing export activities, which will help strengthen the competitiveness of their products in foreign markets," said Artur Zavyalov.

Roman Smagin, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of ROSEXIMBANK, told about ROSEXIMBANK's credit products and EXAR insurance in his speech.

"The inflow of money is pleasing and is the goal of a commercial organization, but sometimes there is not enough of it. Then entrepreneurs face the need for financing. In the catalog of products and services that form the 'My Export' platform, the section of financial support measures is dynamically developing. It is possible to find a loan or guarantees there not only directly in ROSEXIMBANK, a member of the REC. You can use a specially developed marketplace where commercial banks of the country place their offers useful for exporters," said Roman Smagin.

Konstantin Yevstyukhin, Managing Director for Subsidies Administration, told the audience about 11 government support measures available on the "My Export" platform. The digitalization of these services has resulted in a three-fold reduction in the processing time of applications (from the moment of application to the decision on the application and transfer of funds).

Finally, the event featured a presentation of the "Unified Service Catalog", which collects government services and support measures in the field of foreign economic activity. The UCS consolidated information on available services and support measures in the field of foreign economic activity, as well as services of government authorities and foreign trade support infrastructures at the federal and regional levels. In addition, the platform analyzes data from various government agencies and determines the real needs of the exporter — selects relevant support measures and transfers them to the top of the list of services in the UCS. The new service was presented by Mark Murashko, Managing Director of the REC Product Office.

The International RUSSIA EXPO is the most important achievements of the country gathered in one place. Throughout the Exposition, cultural events, a rich business and educational program await guests. The expositions of 89 Russian regions, leading federal agencies, corporations and public organizations are presented to the visitors. More than 10 million people have already visited the Exposition. The International RUSSIA EXPO takes place at VDNH in Moscow from November 4 to July 8.