Clean coin

St. Petersburg Forum broke investment records

During the three days of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, contracts totaling $13.5 billion were concluded. “This is almost five times more than expected,” rejoiced Minister of Economic Development German Gref. The record figures were doubly pleasing to him - both as the minister responsible for the influx of investments and as the organizer of such a successful forum. “Initially it was planned that the amount would be around 3-4 billion dollars,” admitted Mr. Gref. Russian investors, as statistics have shown, are much more active. Foreign companies accounted for 4 billion of this amount. However, this money is especially dear to the hearts of the Russian authorities as proof that all the talk about the deterioration of the business climate in the country and predictions of an imminent outflow of capital cannot yet be taken seriously.

Western investors clearly received increased attention during the forum. Both President Vladimir Putin and the two first deputy prime ministers, Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, held meetings with foreign investors, urging them to invest more actively in Russia. By the way, according to research by the auditing company Ernst & Young, 70% of foreign investors are confident that Russia will become a leading player on the world stage, company head James Turley said at the forum. According to him, 92% of investors already investing in the Russian economy are satisfied with this and plan to continue investing in Russia.

During the forum, it seemed that Aeroflot had already buried a contract with the American concern Boeing for the purchase of 22 new long-haul Boeing-787 airliners. In addition, contracts have been signed for the construction in Russia of factories of the world's leading automotive companies - Volvo, Suzuki and Peugeot Citroen, as well as the South Korean electronics manufacturer - Samsung. Another factory for the production of snacks will be built by the American PepsiCo.

Among the Russian contracts, one can highlight the agreement of the oil company LUKOIL on the construction of a gas processing complex in Kalmykia worth $3 billion. And the world's largest aluminum producer RUSAL will invest $2.5 billion in the construction of the Ekibastuz Energy and Metallurgical Plant in Kazakhstan.

However, the Russian contribution to the economy is calculated taking into account the projects of the Investment Fund. At a meeting of the investment commission within the forum, the allocation of money for the preparation of design estimates for four new projects was approved. Now they have to get approval from a government commission. Among them is the project “Ural Industrial - Ural Polar”, which involves the construction of a railway to undeveloped fields; the “Integrated Development of South Yakutia” project, creating a new industrial area with its own hydroelectric power station and a cluster for advanced processing of minerals; construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg expressway from the 58th to the 684th kilometer, as well as the organization of high-speed passenger trains from St. Petersburg to Helsinki.

A number of important agreements at the forum were signed by the chairman of Vnesheconombank (reformed last week into the Russian Development Bank) Vladimir Dmitriev. In particular, VEB and the Kazakh sustainable development fund Kazyna signed a memorandum of understanding on the creation of a joint direct investment fund with an authorized capital of up to $1 billion. The parties are currently conducting preliminary negotiations on the search and selection of potential investment projects in the field of timber processing, energy, transport infrastructure. In addition, a cooperation agreement was signed with Kabardino-Balkaria, according to which investment and large infrastructure projects will be implemented in the republic in priority sectors of the economy: hydropower, resort and tourism business, production and processing of agricultural products, housing construction, pharmaceuticals, production of building materials . We are also talking about creating a modern airport infrastructure in Nalchik.

VEB will cooperate with the Voronezh region to create the Voronezh transport hub with a funding volume of 21.3 billion rubles, which includes the reconstruction of the Chertovitskoye international airport and the construction of the Voronezh ring highway. It is planned to build a logistics complex, an international business center and an exhibition complex. In addition, Vnesheconombank is considering a project for the construction of a biodiesel production plant in the Voronezh region, implemented by Antoil-M, the financing of which amounts to $30 million.

And this is just the beginning. The Development Bank (Vnesheconombank) will provide about 45% of investments in the Russian economy by 2010-2012, and the volume of its loan portfolio to non-financial institutions in 2010 will range from 800 billion to 1 trillion rubles, Mr. Dmitriev said at the St. Petersburg forum. According to him, for 1 rub. long-term investments and guarantees Development Bank will attract 3 rubles. private investors in infrastructure development projects and 4--5 rubles. -- to special economic zones and technology parks.

According to Mr. Dmitriev, the Development Bank should become a catalyst for public-private partnerships and stimulate an investment boom, which will become the basis for long-term economic growth.

However, the forum found time not only for multi-billion dollar deals, but also for show. The most colorful was the presentation of Sochi as a candidate for hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics. The ice show with the participation of all Russian stars, staged by Boris Krasnov, was simply amazing. It took place on the shores of the Gulf of Finland under the warm June sun. By the way, the place was not chosen by chance. The organizers wanted to show what it would look like in Sochi itself. After all, facilities associated with the ice part of the Olympics will be built in the Imereti Lowland, on the Black Sea coast. “Our task is to hold the best Olympic Games,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko, general director of the Sochi 2014 bid committee. “We are ready to do everything to emerge victorious in this race,” Mr. Gref confirmed. However, those who were lucky enough to see the presentation were already convinced: Sochi’s application was the best.

Vera SITNINA, St. Petersburg - Moscow