Germany Ranks Second In Terms Of Foreign Investments Into Moscow Region

The Moscow region has been maintaining economic cooperation with Western business circles for many years. "We have established good and time-tested relations with such countries as Germany, Finland, Slovenia, Italy, the USA and some others," Boris Gromov, the Governor of the Moscow region, was quoted as saying. He added that the Moscow region offered more advantageous environment for investments compared to other constituent members of the Russian Federation. Gromov stressed that German companies were among the first to come to the region's market. Germans have been working in the region since 1992. The Governor believes that the most successful projects are the window production of the German BAMO construction company, the TIGI Knauf's gypsum production, construction of the La Max trade centre and Ehrmann's dairy products. He added that in 2000, German companies kept leading positions in terms of investments into the region's economy, with approximately $400M invested, $360M of which had already been appropriated. Gromov stressed that Germany had ranked second after the USA in terms of the "appropriated capital." "My primary objective as the Governor and head of the regional government, is to create such conditions in the Moscow region that will be advantageous for foreign investments, that is to guarantee that foreign companies will be able to work properly," he said.