Boost local MICE industry with all efforts

Zhao Wei

2015 SCO BRICS Office Group Autonomous Non-commercial Organization was established in 2013 in Ufa. The main objective of the organization at that time was the preparation of infrastructure， transport and logistics of the city and the region for the SCO and BRICS summits， which took place in July 2015 in the capital of Bashkortostan Republic. Following the successful organization of the summits， the organization was transformed into the Bashkortostan Convention Bureau under the aegis of the Bashkortostan Republic Government. The mission of the Convention Bureau is to popularize the region as a perspective destination of congress， exhibition and business tourism. The major goal is the support of the national event industry and attraction of international business and cultural events to the region.

Nikolay Fadeev revealed that the current Bashkortosta Convention Bureau has two major goals： one is to enhance the international visibility of the local convention and exhibition industry， attracting various international exhibitions and events； the second is to attract more international participants for local convention and exhibition activities. He said that in 2018， the Ufa exhibition industry has initially achieved this goal. During the year， the Bureau also won a MICE award in Russia， and a local venue also won an excellent venue award.

According to Nikolay Fadeev， Director of Bashkortosta Convention Bureau， Ufa is located in the Ural region of southern Russia， and is only two hours drive away from Moscow. Ufas most well-known industries include the petroleum industry， automobile manufacturing industry， heavy machinery manufacturing industry， air force equipment manufacturing industry， agricultural tools， livestock feed industry， while milk and honey are second to none in all of Russia， with broad industry development potential. Nikolay Fadeev said that due to the success of the BRICS meeting， an internationally renowned and important high-end event， the local convention and exhibition industry began to gain the attention from international conference organizers and infrastructure construction began to improve. Now， there are not only conference centers， exhibition centers， but also hotels. In this process， the Bashkortosta Convention Bureau has done a lot of promotion work， and constantly promotes the development of the exhibition industry and infrastructure construction. At the same time， the promotion center is also very willing to learn from the many other countries the excellent development experience of the exhibition industry.

Nikolay Fadeev believes that the development of the MICE industry requires the cooperation of the government， business and science institutions. As a government department， the promotion center has received support from many local enterprises and is able to vigorously develop the convention and exhibition industry. He also revealed that the Ufa local government will not allocate funds for international conventions and exhibitions， but will provide a series of facilities， such as hosting a dinner party， providing free transportation， and depending on the importance of the event to local development， sometimes also providing free site.

Speaking of Sino-Russian bilateral exhibition industry cooperation， Nikolay Fadeev said that he is very optimistic about the exchanges between China and Russia in the convention and exhibition industry. In the past two years， Ufa has hosted two Sino-Russian medical exhibitions. In 2015， the promotion center team participated in a Xian industrial exhibition held in China for the first time， representing local industrial products on behalf of the Ufa area. Since then， it has carried out some industry cooperation with China. He believes that bilateral industrial linkages are becoming more and more close. In terms of investment， recently， Ufa has already invested in the reception industry in Hainan， and Chinese companies have also invested in the Ufa agricultural machinery industry. At the end of the interview， Nikolay Fadeev also told the reporter with great expectation that in 2019， Bashkortosta Convention Bureau will go to Beijing to participate in an incentive travel exhibition. In terms of industry conferences， the promotion center also hopes to participate in more international exhibitions and exchanges in the future as a member of the Russian governments exhibition department.