Russia's central regions to present their investment opportunities in Brussels

A presentation of investment opportunities of the Central Federal District of the Russian Federation will be held in Brussels on November 19-20. The purpose of the presentation is to help create favourable conditions for attracting investments and developing business in this particular part of Russia.

The large Russian delegation is headed by Georgy Poltavchenko, the Russian president's plenipotentiary to the Central Federal District, and unites top officials from cities and regions of Central Russia, including Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.

The European Parliament has promptly arranged an exposition dedicated to the culture and economy of the aforementioned regions of Central Russia.

During a November 18 press conference in Brussels, Poltavchenko pointed to the actively developing agriculture and high-technology production linked with defence industries as the district's most attractive industries from the point of view of foreign investments. In the first half of 2002, the district in question drew 49% of all direct foreign investments in Russia, of which 45% went to Moscow, he said. However, the investment resource of the district, which could make effective use of foreign capital, reaches about 7.5 billion dollars.

On his part, Yury Luzhkov mentioned the construction of 25 large shopping centres, dozens of three-star hotels, development of the pharmaceutical industry, and production of consumer electronics as the district's most promising spheres for attracting investments.