Aside from being renowned for its vodka, Russia is probably the world’s largest bank of natural resources. Check out these impressive stats, courtesy of Wikipedia and the CIA World Factbook:
- Largest natural gas reserves in the world
- 2nd largest coal reserves in the world
- 8th largest oil reserves in the world
- Leading natural gas exporter in the world
- 2nd leading oil exporter in the world
With these impressive numbers, it’s no surprise that some countries would like to enhance their relationship with Russia. However, one big thing to remember while conducting business in Russia is patience.
While your Russian business partner might be 1-2 hours late, it is important that you remain calm. It is socially acceptable for Russian natives to be tardy but for foreigners to be punctual at all times. Patience is one of the most important virtues in Russian society. Thus, do not be surprised if your Russian business partner purposefully arrives late to test your patience.
Other tips to keep in mind include the following:
- Bring a business card that is printed on both sides (one side in English, the other in Russian)
- Avoid standing with your hands in your pockets or shaking hands with gloves as this is considered impolite
- Do not speak or laugh loudly; this is rude in the Russian culture
March 1, 2009 at 11:36 PM
Hey, here are the answers to your question.
From the business point of view our culture is very similar to what the rest of the world’s culture is. We also believe in making sure that our guest is comfortable in our country. But our culture gets more interesting when you look closely at the provinces and their cultures. For example I live in Karachi. Karachi comes in Sind. Now one of teh biggest and most respectable gift one can give is of “Ajrak” Ajrak” is one of the main main ingredients of sindhi culture. “Ajrak” is a large cloth stole (rather a sheet) which is used by men and women both to wear on top of their clothes. It is unstitched and comes primarily in 3 colours: Red, Blue and white. The intereseting part of this peice of cloth is that it is goes under the block printing 42 times! its a beautiful peice of cloth.
If you look at the history of this cloth it would date back to around 3000 BC. (A bust of a king priest excavated at Mohenjo-daro shows him draped over one shoulder in a piece of cloth that resembles an ajrak.)
This is just one gift which the people of pakistan are proud to give and which is considered very respectful. I can fill you up with more details if you like
March 4, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Wow I would be really upset if I had to wait for two hours! I guess patience is not one of my most practiced virtues, but that is still a long time to wait! I never knew that about Russian culture so thanks for enlightening me Lisa.