Mohsen Moazami, Cisco's vice president for emerging markets, discusses why Cisco is confident about Russia's Skolkovo initiative. Cisco signed an MOU supporting President Medvedev's diversification efforts and wants to ensure the project survives beyond a single leader.
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I'm right now joined by the vice president of Cisco for emerging markets, world's largest provider of networks. I got to ask you, we are talking emerging markets, but what's going on in Western Europe is so dramatic. Is it a concern for Cisco?
Obviously, the markets yesterday showed a high degree of nervousness about the situation in Greece. It's an area of concern and we're watching it and monitoring very closely.
But emerging markets at Cisco, like at a lot of companies, the growth you're trying to focus on emerging markets in any case?
Emerging markets continues to be an engine of growth and very important to the future of Cisco and almost any other global company.
I want to ask you about Skolkovo. That's Russia's sort of Silicon Valley-like project that it wants to build. Cisco's an advisor. I know obviously you believe in the idea. There are a lot of skeptics in this country, though. This has really been a sort of oil investment story up until now, hasn't it?
Well, yes, we realize that there are a lot of skeptics. But most good ideas have a lot of skeptics to begin with.
Sure.
What is encouraging for us as a global company is the top-down commitment that we see from President Medvedev down. And we were fortunate when President Medvedev came to the United States in 2010. Sure. One of the stops was at the Cisco campus where, you know, head of our company, Mr. Chambers, and Mr. Medvedev met. And based on the conversations that we had and the due diligence work and the fact that we realized that President Medvedev was absolutely committed to this plan of diversification from oil and gas. We signed a large MOU with a large-sized commitment from Cisco to Skolkovo and the development of the Russian information and communication technology industry.
What does it mean if, because this has been so much President Medvedev's project, if President Medvedev come March is no longer president, if Prime Minister Putin comes back, and will there be as much of an emphasis? And is that important to have that emphasis from—
it could be a regarded as a concern, but we are really working hard through the Skolkovo Foundation and a lot of able executives that sit around the board to make sure that this becomes an institutionalized program across Russia. It's a Russian program. It is not particularly a single president or a single politician's platform and perspective. So we are very confident that this is, is a high and national priority of the country and will continue to be so.
