Volga-Dnepr Group and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan have held an all-Russia e-commerce and integrated services conference

Volga-Dnepr Group and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan have held a joint all-Russia e-commerce and integrated services conference which took place in Kazan (Russia) from October 25 till October 26. The event gathered 200+ stakeholders of Russia and was held with the participation of the TOP officials from both parties – Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, and Alexey Isaykin, Chairman of the Board, Volga-Dnepr Group who commenced their meeting at Cargo Village in Kazan International airport. The President of Tatarstan has had a unique opportunity to tour three freighters of the Group and watch Kamaz Master being offloaded from An-124-100, as well as offloading Boeing 747F and Boeing 737F procedures.

Following the dynamic part of the event, Rustam Minnikhanov and Alexey Isaykin addressed all the guests in their welcome speeches at the plenary meeting and gave the impulse for further discussions. Among other speakers of the opening part were TOP e-commerce managers, such as Tatyana Bakalchuk - CEO of Wildberries, Kevin Khanda – co-founder and technical director of KazanExpress, Yuliana Gordon - founder of e-commerce business school iWENGO, Fedor Vyrin – partner of Data Insight, Alexey Prokopenko – President of Romesk-Kuban Group, Sergey Romantsov – General Director of Kazan International airport, Zsolt Katona – General Director of Maersk for Eastern Europe, Alexander Ivanov – President of E-commerce Association in Russia. The speakers shared their pandemic experience, touched upon problematic issues and outlined perspectives for e-commerce development in Russia. The participants from e-commerce platforms and marketplaces, carriers, importers and exporters, startups and logistics providers could, later on, continue their discussion during four panel discussions dedicated to the building of international multimodal centers in Russia, development of warehouse infrastructure in regions, implementation of innovative solutions in logistics and potential of bonded warehouses in Russia. The panel discussions turned out to be buoyant and productive given the number of hot topics which were covered.

The official part of the event was culminated by a series of agreements signing – Volga-Dnepr Group has inked agreements with KazanExpress, DPD in Russia, Delovye linii, and BXB by Boxberry. All four documents are aimed at the complex development of multimodal logistics in Russia through healthy synchronization of airfreight logistics via charter and scheduled operations aboard the Group freighter fleet and on land transportation. One of the key agreements was signed with Innopolis University to elaborate potential directions for cooperation in such areas as education, science, development, and realization of training sessions.

‘An all-Russia e-commerce and integrated services conference is the pilot project aimed at creation of industry platforms together with the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan. This is one of the milestones of our strategic cooperation agreement which was inked earlier this year during MAKS 2021. Our joint efforts will enable us to develop and strengthen logistics infrastructure in Tatarstan to enhance cargo handling operations and create a competitive landscape in the region to gain new customers and logistics providers. We hope that we will have more joint events which will open new opportunities for stakeholders to network, implement initiatives and plans for further industry development’, highlighted Konstantin Vekshin, Executive Operating Officer of Volga-Dnepr Group.

The second day of the event was more practical with the dedicated excursions aboard the Group freighters, Russian Post terminal, Multimodal logistic center in Sviyazhsk, an industrial zone in Zelenodolsk and tour around Kazan and Innopolis.