OREANDA-NEWS. The economic, industrial and investment potential of the Kostroma region has been presented at the Congress Center of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia.

The exhibition presenting quality of the investment portfolio of the Kostroma region and security of investments in the regional economy was organized in the Congress Center’s lobby.

CCI of Russia President Sergey Katyrin, an official delegation of the Kostroma region led by Governor Sergey Sitnikov, Russian and foreign investors and representatives of the federal and regional legislative and executive authorities and the media attended the presentation.

CCI of Russia Vice-President Vladimir Semashko opened the presentation. The Kostroma region is an interesting and promising region, he said, adding that small business, to which the CCI of Russia gives special attention, originated from Kostroma. He described the region as a territory of efficient investments, implying the well organized assistance to investors.

Kostroma Governor Sergey Sitnikov greeted the audience. He introduced the region and stressed its advantageous geographic position and closeness to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod. The region is rich in forests and has mineral resources. Agriculture is well developed. The processing industries and other sectors of the regional economy are supplied with locally trained workers and specialists.

In the words of the governor, the region is on the brink of making an economic breakthrough; a barrier-free environment and “a green corridor” for investors are being formed. Businessmen who have made investments in the Kostroma region can confirm that these are not just words or good wishes. We need investments and we value investors, the governor stressed.

The economic, industrial and investment potential of the region was presented by Deputy Governor Pavel Alexeyev. He focused on the development of public-private partnership projects in the region and said they had established an investment fund, which was rare in the Russian Federation. Only a few regions of the country have created funds of the kind.

Bureaucratic procedures encountered by businessmen in their operations have been cut by a third. Ten projects have been included in the regional register of investment projects. Pavel Alexeyev described some of the projects, among them a cement plant, which will do away with the cement deficit in the region, and a brick plant.

Processing industries, agriculture and woodworking are primary areas for investments, the speaker said. He noted that the region had space for small and big investors. We value everyone because this is the question of the regional economic development and creation of jobs for the regional population, Pavel Alexeyev said.

The next speaker was NOV-Kostroma LCC General Director Anthony Crawford who presented successful cooperation between the U.S. company National Oilwell Varco and the Kostroma region. The company, a world leading producer of oil mining equipment and oil services, is building a drilling unit plant in Volgorechensk. The production will start already next year. More than 2.7 billion rubles have been invested in the project.

Gazpromtrubinvest JSC Deputy General Director Anatoly Savelyev spoke about pipe production.

More than 2,000 cultural and historical monuments, lavish forests, environmental purity, clean water and, the last but not the least, the fairy “home town” of Snow Maiden make the Kostroma region an ideal place for a tourist cluster, deputy director of the Kostroma regional culture department Mikhail Prostov said.

NP Golden Ring of Russia Jewelers’ Guild General Director Vladimir Purygin spoke about the regional jewelry industry.

More than 1,400 jewelry factories are working in the region. Over a third of Russian precious metal items are made in the region, and 85% of them are exported outside of the region.

The number of jewelry factories in the region is expected to grow by 50% by 2020, Vladimir Purygin said. The goal is to process half of Russian precious metals in the region. Kostroma remains the jewelry capital of Russia, Vladimir Purygin said. He believes that Russia may rank amongst leading countries – producers of jewelry under WTO conditions.

Russky Krolik LCC General Director Alexey Kiselyov told the audience about plans to build a rabbit farm cluster in the Kostroma region. The world annually produces up to 1.5 million tonnes of dietary rabbit meat.

Russia produces slightly more than 2,500 tons and only at small farms. Eight farm buildings and over 100,000 rabbits are the company’s development plans. Russia should start commercial production of rabbit meat, and this is the goal of the Kostroma project, Alexey Kiselyov said.

Chamber Vice-President Boris Baikov spoke about the work of the Kostroma CCI, its support to small and medium business and assistance in investment projects.

A press conference was held on the presentation sidelines. Speakers answered numerous questions of the media.