INTERNATIONAL TRADE : Soviet Crisis Won’t Discourage Some of These Entrepreneurs

As an era ends with the fall of Mikhail S. Gorbachev as president of the Soviet Union, some enterprising Orange County companies are pressing on with deals.

Mark Talieh, who sold $2 million worth of laptop computers to a Moscow trade group earlier this year, said he expects demand for consumer goods and Western technology to remain unchanged despite the turmoil in the Soviet government.

“Business has been slow anyway, so I expect that trade will continue at the current pace,� Talieh said.

His company, ITM Inc. of Irvine, has brokered a venture between Internet, a Fullerton trading company, and the Moscva department store in Moscow, to sell office equipment and machines there.

But Makram Nawar, a Newport Beach developer who had several successful barter deals with the Soviets that involve Egypt, said he sees the upheaval as a disruptive force in his trade relations with the Soviets, although he expresses optimism about the outcome.

The Soviets still owe his company $25,000 for cosmetics and oil treatment products for car engines his company shipped to the Soviet Union in April, he said, but he is confident that the Soviets will come through with their end of the deal.

“The Soviets are preparing a list of items that they can barter with our partners in Egypt, who will then pay us in hard currency,� he said. “The amount is not much, and, so far, there has been no disruption in our communication with them.�

Todd Schooler, who heads an architectural firm in Newport Beach, hopes that business will return to the way it had been in the Soviet Union in a few weeks. Schooler is, therefore, going ahead with plans to bring items such as modular cabinets and office furniture to a Moscow trade show scheduled for later this year.

“We don’t know how this political situation will affect our business plans, but we’re going ahead,� Schooler said Monday.

But other business people expect Gorbachev’s ouster to make trade with the Soviets more difficult. Soviet immigrant Boris Gurevich, president of BG International, an Irvine trading company, believes the new government under Gennady I. Yanayev will be more cautious about approving new joint ventures.

“Ideally, they would prefer to centralize and monitor all the joint ventures from Moscow, from what it used to be before perestroika, “ he said

Gurevich, who once taught at one of Moscow’s technical institutions, said he expects the new government to begin a review of current joint ventures.