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Tim Metcalfe

HONG KONG'S 'Cold War' with Moscow formally ends tomorrow with the re-opening of a Russian Consulate-General in the territory.

  The historic return of a Russian diplomatic community comes 74 years after the last consul-general was expelled.

  Only a quiet reception at the Viceroy Restaurant in the Sun Hung Kai Centre in Wan Chai will mark tomorrow's occasion.

   'It will only be a humble reception - a very simple ceremony,' Cyril Ivanov, the incoming consul-general for the Russian Federation, said.

  'We do not have the budget of a profitable company.'   But the absence of an especially lavish buffet or vintage champagne does not detract from the historic, political, economic and even cultural significance of the event.

  It marks not only warmer political relations between Moscow and Hong Kong, which, until a few years ago, refused to even grant visas to Russians.

  It also marks fast-growing trade ties between the economies of the two countries.

  The extent of that rapidly developing business relationship is reflected by the founding of a Russian Trade Association in the territory just two months ago. The existence of such an organisation in Hong Kong would have been unthinkable before the 1990s.

  More than 30 local companies are now actively, even aggressively, forging trade links in the nation which, after three-quarters of a century of being 'out in the cold', has turned its back on the discredited ideology of communism and is now embracing the world's open market economic system - in other words, capitalism.

  Capitalism cannot effectively operate unless businessmen are free to conduct business, of course, and this is probably the most important role of the new consulate-general.

  'This is our priority,' said Mr Ivanov, 57, a graduate of Moscow's prestigious school for diplomats, the Institute of International Relations. 'We are here to promote trade.'   To achieve that end, the elegant, fluent English-speaking diplomat pledged to drastically reduce the time it currently takes to obtain visas for Russia.

   Until now, all applications have had to be submitted to embassies outside Hong Kong, most commonly in Bangkok. The process has tended to take at least two weeks and often one month.

  But Mr Ivanov said: 'Here, we hope to issue visas within a week - even less if it is urgent.'   Applicants need only produce air (or train) tickets and confirmation of accommodation.

   Mr Ivanov said tourists were advised to arrange visits to Russia through a travel agent because Moscow 'can be a heck of a problem'.

   Businessmen were required only to produce an invitation, or reference, from a Russian company.

 To further the trade promotion cause, the Consulate-General will also be serving as an information source on Russia's economy, looking after visiting nationals and delegations and helping Hong Kong entrepreneurs overcome the hurdles of document translation, legislation and bureaucracy.

 Mr Ivanov, who is still settling in to Hong Kong with his wife, Tatyana, heads a small mission of just a dozen staff. It is his first posting as a consul-general.

  A Putonghua speaker, his introduction to the diplomatic corps was as a special attache in Beijing from 1960-1965, on the eve of the Cultural Revolution - which he described as 'an interesting time' in those difficult years when the communes began to crumble.

  From China, he stepped up the career ladder with postings to Singapore, Malaysia and, most recently, London.

  Mr Ivanov has also set himself another more academic task. His researches into Russia's historical links have established that his countrymen were visiting and trading in Hong Kong almost from the time the colony was founded.

  In 1841, the classical Russian writer, Gomcharov, described the colony - an account which Mr Ivanov believed was 'probably the first literary description' of Hong Kong.

   Russian traders found a lucrative market here for fur and antler horn, which is revered to this day as an aphrodisiac.

   Gomeharov even recorded the governor of that time visiting a Russian frigate, and receiving a seven-gun salute.



No fanfare to celebrate end of 'cold war'