MOSCOW – The Philippines and Russia have ushered in a new chapter in economic ties, with businessmen from both countries jumpstarting negotiations for potential business deals on a wide array of products, from CNG buses, bananas and steel to guns.

While President Duterte has cut short his official visit here, the lobby of the posh Ritz-Carlton hotel turned into a virtual business hall as some Filipino businessmen met with their Russian counterparts including the Eurasian country’s biggest conglomerates.

In an interview with The STAR, Raul Lambino, head legal counsel of the Philippines-Russia Business Council (PRBC), said his group signed on Monday a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Food City Center, paving the way for the entry of Philippine products to the Eurasian country.

Food City Center is the Philippines’ version of Food Terminal Inc. (FTI), which was a grand market place for local produce. Here, Food City gives spaces for rent and helps tenants sell their products.

“Yesterday we already signed an MOU with Food City. It’s a trading house similar to FTI. Sixty percent of food in Moscow pass through that,” Lambino said.

Under the MOU, Food City will connect buyers and sellers.

While it doesn’t take products for sale, it connects sellers with wholesale companies.

“That MOU will bring in many of our agricultural products here,” Lambino said Tuesday night.

The MOU was signed between Food City Agrocluster represented by Omar Ambramov, chairman, and Boris Ivonin, CEO, and Minavida de Mindanao Corp., represented by chairman Alex Fu Kong Sang, and PRBC, represented by chairman Roberto de Venecia and Lambino.

Russia has agreed to buy $2.5 billion worth of fruits and other agricultural products from the country over the next 12 months, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol in a separate statement.

In the area of transportation, Eastern Petroleum Group chairman Fernando Martinez met with Moscow-based Gaz Group, a subsidiary of Russian Machines Company Organization, a conglomerate here that is into different businesses such as agriculture equipment and buses.

Martinez said the GAZ Group is interested in entering the Philippine market.

Talks are still at a very preliminary stage, with both parties still trying to see what arrangements can be finalized.

Martinez said the Gaz Group has a great product for the replacement of Jeepneys.

“I’m trying to promote their entry as an investor so we can go about it and introduce clean energy which is 60 percent clean compared to diesel,” he said.

If this deal pushes through, the Gaz Group will bring in an initial 1,000 units of their buses.

Martinez said local government units (LGUs) could acquire the units while the government comes up with financing for the vehicles.

The idea is for jeepney operators to shift to buses under a lease-to-own arrangement which, Martinez said, he would help facilitate.

Meanwhile, sources in the business delegation said a separate military delegation is also working on an arms supply deal between Russia and the Philippines, which could benefit arms sellers in Manila.

Over 200 businessmen from Manila joined President Duterte’s trip to Russia. The President, however, had to cut short his trip due to the situation in Marawi where the Maute terrorist group staged an attack on Tuesday.