Investment climate in Russia will be discussed in Boston

The participants in the Sixth Russian Investment Symposium, which opened on Thursday in Boston (Massachusetts), will discuss on Friday the package of questions which are of principled importance for the growth of influx of American capital investments in the Russian economy.

On the second day of the forum, which will actually be its first working day, it is planned to discuss the changes that have taken place in the investment climate of Russia and their assessment by the Western business quarters, to consider the prospects of Russia's entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its consequences for investors and for the Russian metallurgical sector, the process of the reforms in the banking system, and the formation of a new class of entrepreneurs.

This year, the Boston symposium is attended by more than 300 Russians and about 200 representatives of the American business quarters. The representatives from Russia include the President's aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the President's adviser for economic problems Andrei Illarionov, the head of the YUKOS company, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and the head of the RAO Unified Energy Systems of Russia, Anatoly Chubais.

The day before, the forum participants discussed the basic rules in force of conducting business in the United States, including taxation, the juridical procedures for the business presence of foreign companies in America, and the possibilities for companies from Russia which only start their activity in the United States.

Apart from that, the guests of the symposium took part in the round-table conference on the theme "Investments into the Energy Systems of Russia." However, according to its participants, the conference actually turned into the discussion of the ways of reforming the RAO Unified Energy Systems of Russia.