September 2-3, 2016 in Vladivostok, the second Eastern Economic Forum was held. Olga Plotnikova, Director of the Fund for Development of Economics and Direct Investments of the Chukotka Autonomous Region, spoke about the results and expectations of the Forum.
“The expectations of the Chukotka AO Development Fund from the Forum are in the sphere of dialogue with investors. Participation in a large number of sessions was held, meetings and business negotiations were held with companies that in the future could lead to new investment projects within the Chukotka Autonomous Region “, – commented Olga Plotnikova, Director of the Fund.
The Fund took an active part in the business program of the Forum. In particular, the Director of the Fund Olga Plotnikova took part in the events on the opening of the WEF-2016 within the framework of which the greeting of the Deputy Chairman of the Government – Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Far Eastern Federal District, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Eastern Economic Forum Yuri Petrovich Trutnev, and the greeting of the Executive Secretary Economic and Social Commission of the United Nations for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Shamshad Akhtar.
The Chukotka Development Fund signed an agreement on a long-term partnership with the Far East Development Corporation, which will create a platform for attracting investors to the PDA and Free Port of Vladivostok, and will bring investment cooperation within the region to a qualitatively new level.
Session “PDA for investors: minimum risks and maximum profitability. Success Stories “, held on September 02, 2016, allowed participants to share their experience and present best practices among investors, residents of the PDA, aspirants to residents and representatives of authorities in the Far East in general. The moderator of the session was Denis Alekseevich Gros the head of the “Industrial Park Avangard” (PDA Khabarovsk). The agenda of the session included questions of the feasibility of PDA mechanisms and their decisive role in making investment decisions. The positive effect and positive experience from the implementation of PDA was positioned by the Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Mr. Shport Vyacheslav Ivanovich. The agenda of the session includes unique opportunities to increase the investment attractiveness of the region on the initiative of Olga Plotnikova, the director of the Development Fund of Chukotka AO. In addition, useful experience on the presence of bottlenecks in the implementation of customs benefits during the implementation of the investment project, on sectoral priorities and state support for infrastructure development, the successful innovation component and the economic feasibility of creating new PDAs, attractiveness of PDAs for foreign investors were shared by: Tomoyuki Igarasi – JG SE Evergreen “, Sarapkin Alexander Vladimirovich – General Director of” Amurragrocenter “, Sergey Anatolyevich Kolesnikov – President and Managing Partner of Technonikol, Isakov Nikolay Vasilievich – Deputy General Director for work with the authorities of OOO Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, Alexander Kozlov – Governor of the Amur Region and Denis Tikhonov – General Director of KRDV.
“03” September 2016 on the WEF site held one of the key sessions “New mechanisms to support investors in the Far East.” Within the framework of the organized session, issues of the action in the Far East of a broad range of measures to support investors, including Subsidies for the creation of infrastructure, tax incentives, preferential financing from the Development Fund of the Far East. Opportunities of any enterprise within the framework of the program of support of the regional significant projects, which invested more than 50 million rubles in new production in the Far East, are announced in the written order to receive benefits for income tax and for mining operations operating for 10 years. During the discussion, issues of step-by-step accessibility of opportunities for investors to take measures of state support in the Far East were discussed. A high degree of positive impact of measures on the economic efficiency of investments was noted. The bright concentration of successful projects that have received state support, not only provides a positive example to potential investors, but also an increase in the number of stakeholders, including, from foreign investors. The positive dynamics of the announced investment projects directly reflects the prospects for the dynamic development of the Far East and the Chukotka Autonomous Region, among other things. Based on the results of the discussion of the above topics, the Chukotka Development Fund, outlined the special need to support small and medium-sized businesses of the Chukotka Autonomous Region and develop an individual approach to support mechanisms for business entities, taking into account the Arctic region and transport specifics of the region. At the end of the session, a fruitful exchange of facts and ideas was made, a positive response was received from representatives of the authorities of the subjects of the Far East, business representatives and representatives of the Far Eastern Development Fund.
An additional stimulus to positive initiatives and actions towards steady growth was the speech of the President of the Russian Federation in the framework of the plenary meeting held on September 3, 2016, in which Olga Plotnikova, Director of the Development Fund of Chukotka AO, took part in the list of honorable guests.
“We see real changes here – the first, but still significant and encouraging results. So, now the growth of industrial production in the Far East is more than five percent. In general, we have a modest growth in the country – three tenths of a percent, but five in the Far East. Over the past year, more than one trillion rubles of investments have been attracted to the region, and over 300 investment projects have been launched. This means that the proposed mechanisms for supporting business are in demand, “the Russian president stressed.
The ambitious, enormous task of making the Far East one of the centers of social and economic development of our country is an achievable goal.
In general, the schedule of the sessions was rather tense. Nevertheless, those sessions that were held in parallel and the representatives of delegations did not manage to visit them at the same time were, if possible, successfully replaced by negotiations. Olga Plotnikova, the director of the Chukotka AO Development Fund, also took part in the business negotiations on the applicability of measures and mechanisms for attracting investments developed in the Far East, the forms of investment support for the projects being announced, and prospects for the development of the Chukotka AO economic sectors in the development of the Far East as a whole. The most practical discussion held in the course of the negotiations with the participation of a number of representatives of investment agencies allowed to expand the network of strategically important contacts of the Fund and to introduce a promising component in its own development plan for the investment environment of the region.
“The Eastern Economic Forum is a platform for growth of the subjects of the Far East economy, a platform for the growth of potential, investment, innovative ideas and an indicative panel for comparing points of growth in the region’s development vector. The regularity of such an event with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation, the distinguished guests of the near abroad, underscores the importance of developing both the Far East and cooperation with the APR countries. The forum is a point for launching new ideas aimed at increasing the investment attractiveness of the Far East and its subjects. The baggage received during the exchange of experience will certainly be absorbed through development plans and will be implemented by the best practices and mechanisms within the Chukotka Autonomous Region. Summarize the work of the Development Fund of the Chukotka Autonomous Region on the platform for increasing the comfort of the region’s investment climate. I propose jointly, exactly in a year “, – Olga Plotnikova noted.
Fund87, 12.09.2016