Russia still interested in attracting foreign investors despite economic, political problems – PM

MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) – Russia is still interested in attracting foreign investors despite the economic and political problems, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, opening a meeting of the governmental commission on the control of foreign investments in Russia.

“Despite certain internal economic difficulties, foreign political problems, the exacerbation of the international situation, it is obvious that Russia is still interested in attracting investors, who are ready to create businesses in Russia and develop them on a long-term basis, to produce a competitive product, which is focused not only on the domestic market but on exports,” he said.

In equal measure this concerns those sectors, which according to Russian legislation are strategic, the prime minister said. However in relation to them there is a special procedure for decision-making, in particular the government commission on foreign investments makes them.

“Thanks to whole range of prompt decisions that we made lately, aimed at improving the investment climate, we have positive changes, as it is know, in international evaluations of the conditions of work in Russia,” Medvedev said. He said that not everything is going smoothly, but international institutes are noting that Russia is striving to improve procedures, which are becoming more modern for a whole number of indicators.

In agriculture, transport, real estate and several other sectors, the volumes of direct investments in H1 demonstrated even certain growth in comparison with the same period of last year. Investors are ready to invest money in a quite wide range of sectors of the Russian economy – this is not only traditional commodities sectors, but also transport infrastructure, machine-building and pharmaceuticals.

“There are a number of such investments and local deals that are relatively small in volume, and these are a part of global processes and global investments in which large companies participate,” Medvedev said.