In developing industries, Russia doesn't rely on the amount of investment anymore, but rather, on new technologies. Today, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov reported to Vladimir Putin on how the country is going to attract investments to industries. They discussed special investment contracts. It's a specific mechanism which the government uses to spur the development of certain industries by granting benefits and guarantees to those building new factories.
Alexei Konopko is reporting.
The minister has good statistics to present to the president in his report. According to Rosstat, the manufacturing sector has grown by 3% since 2018, and worker productivity has grown by 4%. But first, they discussed what generated this growth. So, a few days after the Saint Petersburg Forum, they spoke about investments.
Vladimir Putin: We regularly hold meetings with both Russian and foreign investors and we always discuss the so-called special investment contracts. This point is being elaborated. So let us start with that.
A SPIC is a contract which obliges an investor to invest into production and the state to contribute to the development of the invested industry. This mechanism has been refined since its launch three years ago. For example, now the maximum term of a contract is 20 years instead of 10; not only regional, but also municipal officials will assume obligations; and the minimal amount of investment, 750 million rubles, ($11.5 million) will be abolished.
Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade: We have signed 40 special investment contracts worth a total of one trillion rubles ($15.5 billion), and these are private investments. By implementing these projects we will create over 20,000 new, highly-productive jobs in various industries.
The top three are pharmaceutics, energy, and the automotive industry. This Mercedes plant was launched near Moscow under a SPIC. Germans invested 250 million euros here, creating 1,000 jobs for the region. An investment contract with Mazda and SOLLERS, Russia, was signed in 2016. The plant in Primorye can produce up to 70,000 cars per year, not to mention engines, which are intended for Japan. Over three billion rubles ($46.5 million) have been invested into the first full-cycle production of insulin in Russia. Now it's produced for export, too. At the Saint Petersburg Forum, the company Gerofarm signed a contract to launch its production in Venezuela.
Denis Manturov: We're providing an additional boost to investment by expanding the programs of the Industrial Development Fund, which was created at your instruction four years ago. Since then, the fund has supported over 500 projects.
Vladimir Putin: It's a most efficient tool in this area.
This fund gives credit on preferential terms in order to produce cutting-edge, hi-tech, or unique Russian products. For example, the Dyatkovo Crystal plant received 108 million rubles ($1.5 million) in order to launch world-class crystal production.
Sixty development funds, worth eight billion rubles in total ($124 million), have been created in the regions. They mostly finance small and medium businesses.
Vladimir Putin: “As far as I see, the sectoral distribution of the fund’s projects is also good, so to speak: engineering, chemistry, metal processing and medical, biological and pharmaceutical sciences. These are the most interesting and promising areas.”
In July, the Industrial Summit in Yekaterinburg is to discuss how to introduce new technologies to the industries that are currently rapidly developing.
Alexei Konopko, Lyubov Miloradova, and Darya Inozemtseva for Vesti.
