Interfax: Foreign business more concerned about psychological, political aspects in Russia – official

(Interfax – December 16, 2013) Major foreign business has been recently concerned mostly about the psychological and political aspects in Russia, not with the business climate itself, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Monday when speaking at the conference “100 Steps Towards Favorable Investment Climates. Achievements and New Challenges” organized by the Vedomosti newspaper.

“I have recently managed to meet with representatives of the largest EU, U.S. and even Asian companies, which invest in Russia and work in Russia. You know, we had an utterly honest conversation. And of course, they are concerned about certain physiological aspect, probably, political ones. They are almost not concerned about the business climate,” Shuvalov said.

According to Shuvalov, when asked what should be changed, major business partners said: “Implement the agenda as planned, do not lose focus.” Foreign business thinks that Russia should invest in two directions – “creating physical infrastructure, which Russia needs a lot, and secondly, invest as much as possible into education,” he said

“They tell us – do whatever you want but you have to become an advanced country again in order to bring up new competences, and this concerns higher and secondary vocational education as well. You need to accomplish this path and investors expect you to have trained specialists,” Shuvalov said citing investors.

[featured image is file photo]