Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991 TAG: 9104190495
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
"I see big opportunities to set up joint ventures in the Soviet Union," Sergei Stankovskii told a group of New River Valley businessmen this week. "It's possible to produce furniture. It's possible to produce paper."
And more: Food processing, textiles, metals, he said.
Hotels.
The Soviet Union, besieged these days by foreigners sizing up business opportunities as well as tourists, doesn't yet have a single four-star hotel, Stankovskii mourned.
Of course, as P.T. Barnum said, there's a sucker born every minute.
And then again, maybe the Soviet Union right now is the hottest investment opportunity since the computer chip.
Either way, Stankovskii's talk was a sign things have changed a lot in East-West relations.
Stankovskii is a research fellow at the USSR Academy of Sciences. He and Vladimir Shaporenko, secretary of the Soviet Peace Fund Board, are spending three weeks in the United States for the Peace Fund and on private business.
The Peace Fund is a Soviet volunteer organization designed to promote international peace, diplomacy and humanitarian assistance, largely in developing nations.
It was through the Peace Fund that the Soviets linked up with Steve Darr, associate coordinator of the Cooper House in Blacksburg. The Peace Fund and Cooper House have worked together on relief projects in Central America and the Caribbean.
Darr approached Virginia Tech's College of Business about bringing the two Soviets to the college last week to talk to students and meet with area businessmen.
Darr said the Soviets, in addition to their charity work in developing nations, are interested in economic development of the Soviet Union and believe cooperative business ventures with U.S. entrepreneurs could help.
The two Soviets have even set up their own company - Glaucus, Ltd. - to get things rolling. Glaucus is a Moscow-based company aimed partly at securing U.S. training for Soviet businessmen.
They need it, said Stankovskii.
Soviet professors, used to teaching about the formerly centralized Soviet economy, know little about free enterprise. The Soviets discussed the possibility of management training for Soviet entrepreneurs with officials at Tech's Management Development Center.
Stankovskii stressed he and Shaporenko are here not as representatives of the Soviet government but of Glaucus and The Peace Fund.
The two also plan to visit Washington and Chicago and will meet with officials of Habitat for Humanity and the Christian Children's Fund.
Asked how talking about investment opportunities in the Soviet Union fits the Peace Fund's goals, Stankovskii replied: "I believe that any business relations between the United States and the Soviet Union work for peace."
Stankovskii did not sidestep issues in his talk with business and government leaders at Tech's Pamplin Hall Wednesday. Present were representatives from Radford's Industrial Drives; Poly-Scientific in Blacksburg; the New River Valley Planning District Commission; the Center for Innovative Technology; Tech; Giles County, and the Montgomery Regional Economic Development Commission.
The Soviet economy, Stankovskii conceded, has its problems. There is the problem of the ruble - worth about one-thirtieth of a U.S. dollar. There is the problem of the Soviet worker's buying power - on average, the equivalent of about $10 a month.
But he discounted fears of a China-style crackdown, noting the Soviet Union has gone further in economic reforms than China ever did.
"In the worst-case scenario, there won't be a back-wake to a Stalinist type of economy," he said.
In the Soviet Union, he insisted, "It is possible to do business . . . A very good case could be the processing of foods, vegetables, various mushrooms - especially for Eastern Europe."
Business leaders took the opportunity to pitch the New River Valley to the Soviets, too.
"We're really in a beautiful location,' said W.W. "Skip" Griggs, president of Industrial Drives in Radford.
Griggs touted the valley's relative closeness to major manufacturing bases, its interstate highway, its airports and railways, and Virginia Tech and New River Community College.
"I think you'll find the people here to be very open to world markets and world trade," he said.
Afterward, Griggs said the meeting had opened doors.
"This will promote first a friendship exchange," said Griggs. He also said he could think of "half a dozen" area industries that might be interested in trade with the Soviets.
Asked if political uncertainty in the Soviet Union is a deterrent to investment, Griggs said, "Not any more than any other country." He said politics and competition exist everywhere.
Richard Harshberger, director of Tech's Management Development Center, told the group: "We believe it is extremely important that the free-market economy succeed in the Soviet Union. We have encouraged them . . . Now we must help them succeed."
by CNB