Initiatives to encourage investment and the development of the industrial sector: Investment Board under the Chairman of the Russian State Duma

In the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the framework of the Investment Board deputies, representatives of federal executive bodies, bankers, managers of industrial enterprises, public institutions, academic economists discussed the legal aspects of industry support. The event was held on 30 November 2015 by the Chairman of the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin.

"The task of the legislators - to provide systematic support to Russian enterprises, to help anyone who is upgrading or introducing new capacity, produces high quality products. Unmotivated restrictions on investment in production should not be. We must improve the quality of national jurisdiction, so that a private businesses have seen their security, reliability and ease of both material and procedural legal norms and, of course, had no doubt in qualifying and justice courts", said Chairman of the State Duma.
According to him, we need additional measures of tax and customs tariff regulation, strengthening the institution of public-private partnership, the scope of consumer cooperatives, improvement of public procurement and purchasing.
Note that Tatarstan pays great attention to these areas.
TIDA Chief Executive Taliya Minullia:
"The parliamentary platform is an important area for discussing ways and forms of investment, the most pressing issues for our investors. Tatarstan uses this tool – there is a close interaction with the State Council and relevant committees. Given the richness of the past year, I know that we will work together with the national parliament on creating and modifying legal acts.
So, after the adoption of the federal law on PPP the republic is preparing to corresponding changes in regional legislation, Tatarstan Investment Development Agency takes an active part in the process. This is very important, because a large-scale project - a high-speed railway Moscow-Kazan goes with an active participation of Tatarstan, it will be implemented as part of the PPP".
Kirill Dmitriev, General Director of Russian Direct Investment Fund, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Investment under the Chairman of the State Duma, said:
"For the development of the industrial sector of Russia it is important to create high-quality infrastructure and to use the considerable potential of companies to improve efficiency. Already today it is possible to ensure the growth of perspective companies in two or three times, that will be an additional stimulus to investment and the introduction of advanced technologies".
According to the Director of department of development of the contract system of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Chemerisov, last year the total amount of public procurement amounted to more than 23 bln. rubles. In other words, in the framework of public procurement is redistributed over a quarter of Russia's GDP. In this regard, the representative of the Ministry proposed to consider procurement as a tool for macroeconomic forecasting and increase the investment attractiveness of the domestic economy, and therefore procurement should focus on stimulating demand for domestic products, and the fight against corruption. Speaking about import substitution, Maxim Chemerisov proposed to introduce incentives for the localization of production in Russia, to strengthen cooperation with its partners in the Eurasian Economic Union and speed up the adoption of the bill to restrict the access of foreign goods. The meaning of the project, known as "third wheel" is that if for auction come up two or more applications from domestic suppliers, foreign applications are automatically rejected.
According to the participants of the meeting, formation of the complex state of industrial policy is crucial to promoting economic growth, the implementation of industrial-technical potential, as well as the national security of the Russian Federation. An effective element of this support is intended to be a mechanism of "Investment lift" for medium-sized companies, created on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation.
An effective support tool is intended to be a special investment contract provided by the law on industrial policy.
According to First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Gleb Nikitin, from the beginning of the law submitted 185 pre-applications for the signing of such contracts. Deputy Minister drew attention of the participants of the meeting to the need to clarify certain provisions of the existing legislation in the field of industrial policy. It should specify the norms of the law on standardization, making appropriate changes to dozens of other laws. In particular, it is a priority of procurement based on state standards. It is also proposed to introduce a special, non-competitive procurement regime for the parties of the investment contract, which would require an adjustment of the competition law. In addition, Mr. Nikitin called for the introduction of tangible tax incentives for "greenfield"s. The appropriate project is being prepared for the second reading.
Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights Boris Titov called to move from a policy of containment, which, in his estimation, makes almost any production unprofitable in Russia, to the policy of encouraging industrial growth.
President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin, referring the matter to stimulate investment, proposed to think about refinancing bank loans to industrial projects and investment projects of import substitution. At the same time, access to tax benefits should be wide enough, otherwise notable results can not be achieved.
Rector of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under President Vladimir Mau called for lower interest rates on loans and preservation of tax stability.
As the press service of the State Duma notes, summing up the discussion, Sergey Naryshkin assured that the issue of legislative support for the industry in the foreseeable future will not lose its relevance. Legislative Duma portfolio contains a number of important initiatives that must be taken before the end of the year, and then the work will continue.
  
TIDA Press Service