Anton Siluanov: ''The task is to ensure that resources do not go abroad, as it was before''
The Russian government has figured out how to make investors to invest in the Russian economy
The Russian government will support the investors who invest in the Russian economy by not obstructing them — it has become known at a meeting, which was held in Kazan under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. It was about the bill ''On protection and promotion of investments in Russia'', which was developed in order to implement the new May Decrees of Vladimir Putin. The government has come up with three areas where businesses should invest. Read about how to solve the problem designated by Siluanov – ''so that resources do not go abroad, as it was before'' — in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
Investors have been given directions
The meeting, which was held in Kazan under the chairmanship of Anton Siluanov, brought together leaders and representatives of eight Russian regions — Kaliningrad Oblast, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Novgorod Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Perm Krai, Moscow and Tatarstan. All of them, except Rustam Minnikhanov, are recently elected, but Kazan as a platform for the meeting was chosen not only for this reason.
''We know what importance Rustam Minnikhanov pays to all this [attraction of investments], so we asked to organize this event in Kazan,'' said the minister of finance of the Russian Federation.
The meeting focused on the draft law ''On protection and promotion of capital investments in Russia'', which was developed in order to implement the new May Decrees of President Putin. To this end, the government has created a working group of leaders of subjects and representatives of ministries responsible for attracting investments.
''The main task we are working on is to ensure that the resources available in the companies do not go abroad, as it was before, but are used in Russia to create new industries. Our task is to help to involve these resources,'' Anton Siluanov told, opening the meeting.
The draft bill defines three areas in which investors are expected. The first is the areas that correspond to the tasks set out in the presidential decree — national projects, export-oriented production, the creation of new businesses, including in areas that are engaged in the development of human capital.
The second direction is the proposals that are of interest to the state and aimed at the development of infrastructure — roads, communications, etc.
And the third one — the offers from the companies themselves. These are new investment projects that have not planned earlier.
… and have been promised not to worsen the business environment
''The draft bill provides for several measures that will be of interest to the regions. We are talking about that new investment projects offer preferences in terms of reimbursement of investors' spending on infrastructure. On the one hand, offsetting these expenses against future taxes is a very good, in-demand measure. On the other hand, we are talking about providing stable tax regimes. If the investor invests certain sums of money, the state guarantees stability of tax conditions so that business plans which were laid in the implementation of such projects are accurately carried out, there are no force majeure situations — it gives guarantees to businesses,'' Siluanov told, answering questions of journalists.
The preferences in question are the promise not to worsen the business conditions for investors. The latter will not be subject to the laws providing for an increase in taxes or insurance premiums, adopted after the cooperation agreement with the government of Russia will be signed.
However, only big business will be allowed to participate in the project. The minimum amount of investments of the investor's own funds is 3 billion rubles, the total budget, including the property used by the investor is not less than 10 billion rubles.
According to Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Andrey Ivanov, in the subjects whose leaders participated in the meeting alone serious project portfolios have been collected.
''We have a set until 2024-2030 — more than 4 trillion rubles, these are very big ambitious plans,'' said Rustam Minnikhanov. ''As you know, this is due to the further development of oil refining, construction of the new ethylene complex, expansion of gas processing and engineering. We also discussed projects in the agro-industrial complex, and the document that we see today will be a good tool for attracting investors.''
''Cooperation should be mutually beneficial''
Minnikhanov assessed the draft bill as a serious document: ''Colleagues-governors, in general, we believe that this is a good opportunity to give impetus to the development of the economy, the creation of new jobs, and, of course, these projects should be high-tech, import-substituting, export-oriented.''
One of the tasks set by Putin to the government is to ensure the growth of the share of investments in GDP to 25 per cent. According to Andrey Ivanov, it will require 23 trillion rubles.
''In order to reach this figure [25%] calmly, we need new projects, in addition to those investment programmes that our investors began — 23 trillion. 18 trillion out of which is investment in fixed capital, 8 trillion of which is what investors define as their own investment in the project,'' said Ivanov.
Anton Siluanov emphasized that ''the cooperation should be on a mutually beneficial basis''.
''It is an important work, and in this way we want to build a substantive dialogue with businesses, which had not exist before, unfortunately. We would like to consult with you, what preferences to create, what decisions to take to make it comfortable to work, what conditions to create for a new quality of investment. Unfortunately, we had not had such a dialogue with the business until the last moment,'' said the minister.
Investors were promised individual support and ''manual adjustment''.