VLADIVOSTOK, September 8 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited foreign investors to invest in the development of Russia’s agricultural lands.
“Frankly speaking, we would like to buy less but rather to attract capital in the development of the agricultural sector in Russia, which has evident natural competitive advantages, i.e. vast lands that can be used for agricultural purposed but are still undeveloped,” he said at a meeting between the APEC leaders and members of the APEC Business Advisory Council.
When asked whether his words could be taken as an invitation for foreign investors, the Russian president answered in the positive. He also added that Russia admits the use of migrant labor on these lands and dwelled on the procedure of migrant labour regulation.
He recalled his recent statement that Russia plans to increase its grain harvest by 1.5 times and thus to boost its export potential to 35-40 million tons. But one of the problems, in his words, is that a lot of agricultural lands are idling. “We have one serious problem, that is that since the collapse of the Soviet Union the area of lands under crops has shrunk dramatically but the yield per hectare increased likewise,” he noted. In his words, Russia is a leding country in terms of the area of lands that can be used for agricultural purposes.