KASPIISK (Dagestan), June 9 (Itar-Tass) — Agreements worth about 100 billion roubles were signed after the second Dagestan Economic Forum.
Deputy prime minister of the republic, Rizvan Gazimagomedov, told Tass that so far it is early to sum up the financial results, as a lot of agreements were signed but some of them will possibly drop out, but expressed confidence that “the figure will approach for sure 100 billion roubles”.
According to Gazimagomedov, 18 agreements including 12 industrial agreements were signed out of 30 planned. Over 13 investment projects from last year’s forum are already being implemented, and “I hope we will begin implementing another dozen of agreements on the results of this year,” the official said. “We have tried to make this forum important, its status will be higher starting from next year,” Gazimagomedov said.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the North Caucasian Federal District Alexander Khloponin believes that the Dagestan Economic Forum may grow into a regional forum. He made a statement to reporters at the second Dagestan Economic Forum on Friday.
“The Dagestan forum may turn in a North Caucasus economic forum or even a southern economic forum in the future,” he said. He believes the new status will help to boost competition inside the region.
Gazimagomedov stressed that although political risks do exist in the region, Dagestan’s neighbors admit its competitive advantages – the infrastructure set up there envisages the setting up of a major and unique in its essence logistics complex.
A special federal channel broadcasting for the North Caucasian Federal District and giving an opportunity to district’s regions to demonstrate their advantages to broad public, may be opened shortly to increase the investment attraction of the region.
Summing up the results of the forum, its participants admitted that regions of the North Caucasian Federal District have enough development potentials. The Internet will shortly reach remote high-mountain areas and within two years the region will switch over to electronic documentation procedures.
All these aims are fixed in the program to increase investment attractiveness of the region in 2012-2017 as well as in the long term prospect – up to the year 2025. According to Gazimagomedov, the main accents in this program will be put on the training of region’s own personnel for the development of Dagestan’s economy, on creating comfortable conditions both for the living and for attraction of investments.
Much attention is put on subsidizing of interest rates on priority investment projects (there are 32 such projects in the republic) and on setting up areas with ready infrastructure of state-private partnership.
“Our aim and the aim of the forum is to make the youth believe in the region and the federal centre and change this artificially formed image with the help of mass media. On the whole, we need healthy protectionism and healthy support of the federal centre,” he stressed.
The deputy prime minister of Dagestan expressed hope that owing to the forum, banks with state interest (Sberbank, Rosselkhozbank, Gazprombank) operating in the region will be more willingly giving “long money” to local entrepreneurs and companies putting off fears of political risks and instability in the region.