Agro Perspectiva

Investment talks in Moscow

20.01.2012 17:14 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) — Experts participating in the «Russia and World: 2012–2020» forum believe that Russia has a high capacity for attracting foreign investment. To this end, joint ventures will be set up, special economic zones will be created and the tax code will be brought up to date. Analysts describe the economic policy pursued by the Russian government in the past years as stable and effective. Russia is self-sufficient in resources and its geopolitical location is favourable. However, it’s a quite difficult task to use these advantages effectively without creating a favourable investment climate. This is the only way to successfully compete on the world scene, says the director of the Department for Investment Policy at the Economic Development Ministry, Sergei Belyakov. «Owing to a bad investment climate we are not utilizing our potential. We risk losing not only financial but also human capital in the competition. The capital is already draining away. Concerning the investment climate, we talk not only about the condition of the capital, but also the life of people. The conditions for investment in Russia should be better than that in other countries. If we do not take the necessary steps for businesses to open their divisions in the country, it will open them outside Russia and produce revenues for other countries,» Sergei Belyakov said. In 2011, foreign businessmen invested over 160 billion U.S. dollars in the Russian economy, an increase by 46 percent compared to that of 2010. At the same time, the capital outflow was 84 billion U.S. dollars. This was mainly due to the use of offshore schemes for tax evasion. However, this is typical problem for Russia as well as many other countries, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said addressing the «Business Russia» forum. He gave instructions to make amendments to Russian legislation to prevent companies from tax evasion using such schemes. It’s no easy task before the Russian government as well as businessmen to improve the conditions for promoting business in the country. The entrepreneurs should do their best not only to increase their clear profits. They should also make their businesses competitive, highly effective and transparent, says the chairman of the board of directors of the «Troika Dialogue» investment company, Ruben Vardanyan. «There are two different models of success. There are a large number of successful people in the country who earn money using ineffectiveness and shortcomings. The success in business depends on professionalism, common sense, love for what you do, and ambition,» Ruben Vardanyan said. The three-day «Russia and World: 2012–2020» conference will end in Moscow on Saturday. This year’s forum is unprecedented in the composition of participants and the issues that are being discussed. The participants of the forum will daily hold discussions and roundtable conferences, and their results will be the basis for decisions of the new government that will start functioning in May.