Russia feeling economic downurn as it prepares for 2014 Winter Games
By Jeff lee, Vancouver SunFebruary 6, 2009 2:06 PMBe the first to post a comment
VANCOUVER - Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Kozak, on a visit to tour Vancouver’s Olympic venues, said Friday that the worldwide economic downturn has reached into Russia’s ambitious preparations for the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.
Some private investors involved with Games infrastructure being built at the Black Sea port have run into trouble, he acknowledged in a brief meeting with reporters at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
But Kozak downplayed those problems, saying overall preparations for the successor to Vancouver’s Winter Games are well underway.
“Yes, indeed there is a global economic crisis underway and there are some difficulties that some private investors are facing in connection with the preparation of some facilities for the Olympic Games.” he said.
“But in our plans and in our schedules, we have not made any corrections or amendments to any of them. The Russian federation has stated before that it has sufficient resources to fully insure the adequate preparation for having the Olympics in Sochi.”
Kozak arrived in Vancouver on Friday morning as head of a 16-member Russian delegation. The group, including Dmitry Chernyshenko, CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, was to tour Whistler Saturday before flying out on Sunday.
The potential trouble for some Russian investors comes in the shadow of a massive $260-million marketing deal Sochi signed with two telecommunications companies, Rostelecom and MegaFon. The companies will provide another $200 million in infrastructure development in the Krasnodar region.
Until that deal last week, the $200-million sponsorship deal Vancouver Organizing Committee signed with Bell in 2004 was an Olympic record.
But the Russian economy is still in trouble. Since the financial downturn the ruble, the country’s currency, has lost 20 per cent of its value.
Kozak’s comments came as Gilbert Felli, the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Games executive director, was saying both Vancouver and the London 2012 committee faced no immediate threats from the worldwide credit crunch.
“There are many questions going around. There may be some question marks on investment. Nobody can tell if we have seen the worst on the economy side,” Felli told the news agency Reuters.
“For Vancouver 2010, there is no risk on the venues because they have already been built,” he said. “On the operational side, almost all has been secured. There is only difficulty with one local sponsor.”
He was referring to Nortel, the telecommunications equipment supplier that recently filed for bankruptcy protection.
Kozak was also in Vancouver for trade negotiations with Stockwell Day, the Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway.
“I would like to say we have come here not only to tour the Olympic venues, but we also have a bilateral agenda,” he said. “Later [Friday] we are meeting with the federal minister. We will discuss the entire bilateral agenda, including economic cooperation, and we are satisfied that cooperation will continue to be enhanced between our two countries.”
John Furlong, Vanoc’s CEO, said he gave several tips to the Russians, including being up front about the full cost of the project and building and completing venues well in advance of deadlines.
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with a file from Reuters
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