Today, the International Investment Forum ?Russia: oil, energy, progress? was opened in Khanty-Mansiysk. The audience is international, including participants from Russia, CIS countries, USA, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland.
Special guests of the forum are Alexander Filipenko, the Governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region, Vladimir Basargin, Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Urals Federal District, Governor of the Tyumen Region Sergei Sobyanin and the Governor of the Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Okrug, Yuri Neyelov. Among the participants are also representatives of the biggest Russian oil companies and of foreign industrial and financial institutions, including the Chairman of the Russian Joint-stock company "United Energy System" Anatoly Chubais, Vagit Alekperov from Lukoil, Vladimir Bogdanov from Surgutneftegas and Artyom Bikov from TyumenEnergo.
The heart of the forum will be the discussions about new investment projects in the sphere of oil, oil-refining, petrochemical industries, pulp and paper industry, wood-working industry, communications and telecommunications in the region. In his greeting speech, Alexander Filipenko noted that in order to attract more investments, the risk for foreign and Russian capital has to be minimized. For that, changes in the law and a reform of the court system would be crucial. According to Alexander Filipenko, the State should be the guarantor of investments and therefore Khanty-Mansiysk is considering establishing an investor insurance scheme.
Khanty-Mansiysk is a perfect place to hold such a forum. Its industrial production is 1.5 times higher than the one from Moscow. The region is second after the city of Moscow when it comes to attract investments. In 2001, foreign investments into the region amounted to $5 billion. However, according to the governor another $3-4 billion would be needed. The oil production in Khanty-Mansiysk represents around 5.6 percent of the whole world oil production and oil reserves are estimated to be 35-40 billion tons. Additionally, the region is rich in reserves of natural gas, second after the Yamalo-Nenetsky Region. There is also plenty of iron ores, magnetite, polymetals pit and brown coal reserves.
When it comes to investment attractiveness, the region also occupies one of the leading positions in the Russian national rating regarding basic investment indicators. Khanty-Mansiysk has jumped from the 45 position in 1996 to the fourth position in 2002, only behind Moscow City, St. Petersburg and the Moscow Region. On December 2002, the rating agency Standard & Poor upgraded the region?s long-term foreign currency credit rating from B+ to BB with a stable outlook. The change of the rating was mainly due to continued economic growth. The regions economy has grown faster than the Russian average. Khanty-Mansiysk is one of the richest regions regarding the level of gross regional product per inhabitant, budget expenses per inhabitant and standard of living.
The strong economic situation of Khanty-Mansiysk is also reflected in recent financial data. In 2002, according to the Ministry of Taxes and Tax Collection, the region has provided 13,6 percent of receipts in the Federal budget of the Russian Federation, this is the second-largest contribution after the city of Moscow with 24,1 percent. The first source of income are profit taxes which amount to 44.1 percent but 10 percent lower than in 2001. Taxes for using natural resources contributed 35.5 percent to the budget, an increase of 1.8 times compared to 2001.
Author: Tatyana Zaharova
