Russia's car industry to resurrect in Kaluga region

Russian Economic Forum "Return the Leadership" took place in Moscow in November. Media holding "Expert" with the support of the Institute for Public Projects held an international meeting, which is to become an annual platform for discussing the problems of economic policy in Russia, such as the need for the industrial development of the country.

The tasks of the forum have been formulated clearly. Russia needs a new policy of industrialization. During the last 20 years, the industry of the country has been staying in a terrible condition. The moderator of the forum, General Director of the media holding, Valery Fadeyev, said in his opening speech that one should stop fighting the inflation rate and deal with industrial development instead.

This question was discussed at the first panel discussion of the forum. Presidential aide Sergei Glazyev said that the current policy of money in the country was inadequate to reality. At this stage of social development, there is a new economic order being formed in Russia, which will require a certain amount of time and money. According to him, "we need long-term and cheap money."

Chairman of the Board of Directors of investment company Eurofinance, Yakov Mirkin, said that the modern financial system of Russia was over-volatile, which saved the country during the global financial crisis. However, it was not very positive in terms of the need of sustainable development. He noted that Russia's economic miracle was possible in principle, but the transition to sustainable economic growth was linked to the principle of the use of administrative tools to overcome imbalances in the financial system. Thus, the role of the Central Bank and its regulatory functions should increase.

Chairman of the Board of JSCB Investment, Konstantin Korishchenko, noted that the problem of the Russian industry was about the fact that most owners maximize their profits of the moment - they do not want to think strategically. This leads to the need for new forms of cooperation between the government and private business - partnership. Deputy General Director of company Leader, Yuri Sizov, said that this form of cooperation had been put into service in England, Australia and Canada. Russia has tested a similar technology in the Kaluga region, where local authorities created the infrastructure of industrial parks at the expense of the budget. Afterwards, automotive corporations localized their productions there.

First vice-president of Gazprombank Ekaterina Trofimova said that the influence  of global monetary policy on domestic interest rates was crucial. The Russian economy can not absorb the capital raised from the sale of oil, so before reviving industry, one should establish law and order in financial policy. The possible course of industrial development directly depends on that.

In fact, no country in the world has implemented the idea of ​​the post-industrial economy to the extent it was implemented in the Russian Federation. Currently, the Russian Federation is ranked 6th in the world on the total volume of economy. However, the volume of industrial production lags dramatically behind even our closest neighbors. There is a huge backlog between Russia and industrial nations in terms of processing industry per capita. During the first decade of the 21st century, this rate in the country has grown 1.5 times. The task of the new industrialization of Russia requires decisive reforms of the model of the money economy and a search for new forms of work.

The Kaluga region is one of the main regions when it comes to the revival of industrial areas of the country in the form of industrial parks. The experience of the region obtained during the recent decades clearly indicates the possibility of obtaining meaningful results in current Russian conditions. Deputy Governor of the region Vladimir Potemkin, said in his speech at the forum that "we were the first in Russia to create a system of personnel training. During four years, we have trained about 6,000 people, who will then come to work in a completely new automotive industry in our region.

"Specialists of the center train personnel on a completely new system. Those who come to us to study, sign an agreement with the employer. We attract young people to work in a completely new area. A new mentality of workers is being formed, as well as a new form of relationship between a person and a company.

"Of course, we would not be able to implement the plan without raising funds and loans. And here we were the first to attract the resources of Vnesheconombank. The relations with the authorities were transparent. We stand for open and honest relations with investors. The principles of work that we have has not changed, so the Kaluga region is attractive from the point of view of investment. We also advocate the freedom of choice of partners and contractors. We offer to work as one single team. One needs to reduce administrative barriers and create favorable conditions for investors.

"What should not be done, in our opinion? Investors should not be divided into more important and less important, into large and small, Russian and foreign ones. One should not let corruption manifest itself and include unreasonable restrictions in investment agreements. The observation of those rules has led to the fact that the Kaluga region has become the most favorable area for business during several years. As a result, in the last seven years, the real GRP growth made up 170%.  In nominal terms, GRP has increased 4 times during this period."

The Kaluga region takes the lead in the country on the growth of industry, the index of processing production and direct foreign investment. The region followed the path of cluster development, which increases the competitiveness of the Kaluga region as a whole - in terms of both the location of enterprises and staffing.

Accordingly, the experience of this kind could be adopted in other regions of the country that are willing and able to work at highest international standards. This can make Russia an industrial leader. A Professor of Technology and Development of the Tallinn University of Technology, Carlotta Perez, added that the main criterion for the success of economic policy is the growth of high-tech exports. Russia has everything for this - one only needs to determine the problems and find solutions. The national economy must develop according to the requirements of time, the forum participants concluded.

Irina Loseva.