I BELIEVE IN THE MAGIC OF EIGHT

103rd Meridian East spoke to Mr. Viacheslav Blatov, an ex-deputy governor of the Yaroslavl region of Russia. Currently, Mr. Blatov heads a bioenergetic technologies company which has offices in three countries: Russia, Germany and Singapore

Mr. Blatov, the first and most trivial question: why Singapore?

For me, personally, Singapore is a country where a person wants to stay. This is my fourth time here, and, with every visit my love for Singapore keeps getting stronger. I love pretty much everything about it: its culture, people, and their mentality. I am repeatedly amazed by Singapore's cleanliness, order, people who are extremely friendly towards Europeans, as well as the strictness of local legislation and Singapore's law-abiding population.

I have noticed that the number eight has had a symbolic significance in my life, and I was told that eight is an auspicious number for Singaporeans. For the first eight years of my career, I was a businessman, then I served as a government officer for another eight years (four as a MP, and four as a deputy governor). I cannot help but feeling a strange affinity with Singapore on a spiritual level.

What made you start a business in Singapore?