Rustam Minnikhanov Took Part in the Opening of the 8th Annual Investment Forum in Dubai
The 8th Annual Investment Forum was held today in Dubai (UAE). Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, spoke at a plenary session on the topic: "The debate of world leaders: ensuring sustainable development through foreign direct investment" and took part in the opening ceremony of the Forum.
"The Republic of Tatarstan was one of the first among the regions of the Russian Federation to adopt a law on investment activities. According to the law, investments in the Republic of Tatarstan are not subject to nationalization and can not be subjected to requisition or confiscation. This year we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of this law. Sound legislation is one of the most important factors for investors. Tatarstan is one of the leading industrial and agricultural regions of Russia. For three years in a row, we take a leading position in the national investment climate rating", - Rustam Minnikhanov assured participants of the Forum, opening the plenary session.
"It is difficult to retain the leadership. The geopolitical situation, innovative technologies and digitization motivates many countries and regions to actively diversify their economy. There is no doubt that sanctions, imposed by Western countries on the Russian Federation, led to the reduction in the amount of foreign investment to our republic. Tatarstan took measures to extend the list of investor countries. We started to pull investment from the Asian region: China, South Korea, Japan", - the President of the Republic of Tatarstan noted, speaking about the current situation with attraction of foreign investment to the region's economy.
Further, Rustam Minnikhanov noted that today Tatarstan was gradually strengthening its positions in the development and implementation of information technologies. "We have become a hub for projects of Russian IT companies, and further for the projects of foreign companies. We will open a joint research center of such global brands as Erickson and MTC in Innopolis in a month. IT technologies, accounting for only 1.4% now, have already appeared in the structure of the attracted foreign investments! Technologies and innovations play a decisive role in the competitiveness of regions in the modern world. We are the leading region of Russian by innovative activity level measured by the amount of investment to the innovative sphere of the economy and the number of investment projects and activities. We are actively working on the digitization of our economy and developing a comprehensive program "Digital Tatarstan" and implementing Industry 4.0".
Answering the question of the meeting's moderator about ensuring compliance of the attracted investments with Russian standards for evenness and sustainability, Rustam Minnikhanov assured that a mixed economy with prevailing market economy was established in Russia today. Regions were granted independence in attracting investment, and there is a serious competition between them for investors: "Only those regions, which offered investors the best means of support, ready infrastructure, personnel and access to markets can boast of their stories of success. At the federal level, projects of transnational corporations are coordinated with regards to conditions, that I have mentioned earlier. Our country has been hosting many large international forums for decades already, they are actively attended by many potential investors. From this perspective, all regions are provided with equal opportunities to attract investments. You often can see delegations from Tatarstan at the forums in Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Yalta. All of them are saturated with different kinds of business events, business dialogs are held, lists of participants are provided, and it depends on the region itself whether or not it uses opportunities provided", - he said in this speech.
Taking advantage of the rostrum provided, Rustam Minnikhanov invited participants of the 8th Annual Investment Forum to Kazan: "Since Tatarstan is a half-Muslim republic, and I am the Chairman of the Group of Strategic Vision "Russia - Islamic World", we are given the prerogative to host the International Forum on Islamic Economy "KazanSummit". I invite you to this major event on May 10-12 and suggest that you consider opportunities to develop your business in Tatarstan using our republic as the first point to enter the huge Russian market, or simply visit the most northern point of adoption of Islam in the world, the Republic of Tatarstan!" - he noted at the end of his speech.
Press service of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Republic of Tatarstan