The twelfth International investment forum "Sochi" has started today in the Krasnodar Krai in Russia. This year the forum got the permanent residence in the Olympic park, Imereti lowland.
Since September 26 till September 29 there will be business meetings, round-table conferences, exhibitions and presentations of the goods and services from the companies of different Russian regions. All these will be held at the Olympic Palace.
The participants of the event came from 29 different countries, including Austria, Nigeria, Georgia, Italy and China. Some governmental delegations will come from Poland, Belarus, Armenia and Japan. Russian prime-minister Dmitry Medvedev is going to speak on subject "Economic development and quality of life: Challenges and Prospects".
As the experts note, one of the most important topics of the forum will be the issue of the investment capital attracting, and into the Regions as well.
This year Kaluga region will be the active participant of the forum. The governor Anatoly Artamonov will present a speech during the plenary session. He will also join some panel discussions and round-table conferences.
Kaluga region is considered to be one of the most attractive regions for the investments. One of the main goals to achieve is to share the positive experience of the investment policy in the Region.
"Undoubtedly, Kaluga region that by the end of 2012 entered top -10 of the most successful regions in the context of the foreign investments and that also included in top-10 regions with the highest GRP in Russia is very attractive territory for the foreign businesses", — said Alan Thompson, the head on Russia issues in the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce in the interview for "Pravda.Ru" -"There are already some positive examples for some British companies. Maybe, not all the enterprises are open for today, but they are going to be opened in next 6-12 months. As for the businesses that are already running successfully, there is, for example, a pharmaceutical company, that is really interested in getting the maximum profit for its plans to expand its activity precisely on the territory of Kaluga region".
Mr. Thompson added, that in the first place Kaluga region is connected with automobile industry in the eyes of the foreign investors.
"The decision to attract the companies like Renault, Volkswagen and some others was the first best card for the governor Artamonov. Actually the way Kaluga region is developing now in all the branches of the economy is the brightest example for all the rest regions in Russia. Any observer from the outside would easily notice that there are some other issues that the authorities of the region face: for example, trying to find the way to make the quality of life higher, because that would attract the labor power, engineers for the companies that are now building the factories. That's for the domestic development. As far as the external development is concerned, there is a necessity to share the experience of the region with the neighboring regions and to show, in what way it is best to develop. Actually that's why the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce is going in Kaluga region with the business mission. The local authorities give us the opportunity to combine the quantity of the already existing companies having decided to develop its business on the territory if the region, with the possibility to attract some new enterprises that are not represented in Russia yet", — concluded the representative of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce.