Attracting investments into regions: best regional practices
On 9 December, a meeting of the regional
expert group took place in Moscow, with the organizational support of the Roscongress
Foundation. The participants discussed success stories and the most efficient
strategies for attracting investments into Russian regions.
Meetings of heads of representative offices
of the Russian regions are held on a regular basis. They are devoted to the issues
of federal and regional agenda, and replication of the most efficient practices
as part of implementation of national projects.
Alexander Stuglev, Chairman of the Board and CEO
of the Roscongress Foundation, greeted the guests:
“Meetings of heads of representative offices of
the Russian regions are an initiative that helps us work together on solutions
for pressing issues at the local level. At previous meetings, we discussed mechanisms
of regional export development, technologies for supporting small and
medium-sized enterprises, strategies to increase labour efficiency; today we are speaking about attracting
investments. Experts not only discuss each success story – they adapt it for each
separate region.”
Among the participants of the expert group meeting
‘Attracting investments into regions: best regional practices’ were Deputy
Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Alexey Gruzdev and Deputy
Chairman of the Leningrad Region Government – Chairman of the Committee on
Economic Development and Investment Activity Dmitry Yalov.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian
Federation Alexey Gruzdev spoke about the role of trade delegations in
searching and attracting investors for the regions.
“Currently there are 57 trade delegations of Russia
abroad, and we are working to expand this list. First of all, we aim at
expanding to African and Latin American countries. We have already made a
decision to open a trade delegation in Saudi Arabia. Lately, activities of
trade delegations are increasingly oriented towards Russian regions. Such
cooperation can be beneficial for the regions in a number of ways. Trade
delegations provide objective information about the state of market in the
investor country. They help establish contacts with the key institutions,
including banks and private investors, and provide ready-made models for
working with partners,” noted Alexey Gruzdev.
One of successful examples of attracting investors to the
regions was the integrated regional information system ‘Investment-driven
development of Leningrad region’. It is an interactive map that demonstrates investment
advantages and opportunities. The project was created in order to increase the region’s
investment appeal and provide access to full and up-to-date information on region’s
comprehensive development for the international community, state authorities,
organizations and citizens.
“Initially, when working with investors, we counted on
technologies rather than governor’s mobile phone accessibility. It has been six years since we launched
the IRIS information system, where any investor can select a plot for setting
up the production through a mobile app. Today we aim at facilitating the issue of
city development plans to businesses. We have recently created the Spacial Data
Fund and are about to start working on the geological plan that is going to be
the basis for all other geoinformation systems. Over the next two years, we
will digitalize the whole region and will be able to automatically issue
development plans for land plots,” Deputy Chairman of the Leningrad Region Government
– Chairman of the Committee on Economic Development and Investment Activity Dmitry
Yalov shared the experience.
Representatives of 25 regions took part in the meeting,
including Altai Republic, Ingushetia, Karelia, Tatarstan, Arkhangelsk Region,
Belgorod Region, Bryansk Region, Leningrad Region, Kursk Region, Yamalo-Nenets
Autonomous Okrug and other.
Following the meeting, analytical materials including relevant
business strategies will be sent to heads of federal executive authorities.
