Foreign Analysts to Assess Investment Climate in Kaliningrad Region

A programme of the monitoring of entrepreneurial situation will soon begin at 500 companies of the Kaliningrad Region. The programme is aimed at the elimination of administrative barriers encountered by investors. This is according to what Jacqueline Coolidge, the Director of Consulting Programmes of the International Financial Corporation and the World Bank, said during her meeting with Andrei Stepanov, the Deputy Plenipotentiary of the President of Russia in the Northwestern Federal District. She said all procedures a foreign or domestic investor was facing would be analysed. Mr. Stepanov said this was very important and timely for the Kaliningrad region that would soon be surrounded by European Union member countries. The economy of the region needs investments. For it to grow, all the outdated fixed assets must be replaced, advanced technologies introduced. Today, investments are hampered by a mass of bureaucracy, which must be eliminated if the investment climate is to become better.