Investors eye Southern Urals

Acting Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, Boris Dubrovsky, and President, Chairman of the Board of JSC Sberbank of Russia, German Gref, signed an agreement on cooperation. 

"For the Chelyabinsk region, the agreement with Russia's largest bank is a very positive factor. The agreement will be good for the economic and social development, including in small and medium-sized businesses. Such an agreement gives a moral right to receive more loans from Sberbank. On the part of the bank,  there can be consultations conducted on issues of investment or how to ensure crediting of this or that particular area of activity. This is not typical for the region, although it can be beneficial. Of course, local authorities should try to attract investments, including foreign ones. One can engage partners' interest by providing  land on concessional terms, their participation in enterprises and other methods. Any other region must follow this example to ensure the inflow of investment. Southern Urals has chosen a strategically right direction," deputy director of Banks and Credit Policies Center at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Anatoly Bazhan told Pravda.Ru. 

Regional authorities plan to attract not less than 420 billion rubles of investment annually. To achieve this result, investment activity should be thought-out and structured, says Boris Dubrovsky. Recently, Acting Governor of the Chelyabinsk region has held a meeting with representatives of big business of South Korea. The head of the Southern Urals invited the potential investors to participate in a phased plan for enhanced cooperation. The South Koreans approved the approach; they intend to present their concepts and plans in August, during the next visit to the region.

Boris Dubrovsky has conducted successful negotiations with a delegation of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China on the implementation of the project related to the construction of customs and logistics terminal "Yuzhnouralsky" ("Sothern Ural") and the development of foreign economic relations.

"Our country needs both internal and external investments more than ever before. And accordingly, attracting foreign investment is a plus for the region that creates conditions for their involvement, - chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development of the State Duma, Igor Rudensky told Pravda.Ru. - The future is about investment, and one must, of course, only expand this type of cooperation, as it implies new jobs and new technologies, especially Korean technologies that we need today a lot. And I think that it is the Chelyabinsk region that shows others how to work and in which direction to grow."