SOCHI, September 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Western sanctions imposed on Russian companies are unlikely to be lifted soon but the situation opens new opportunities for investors, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said on Thursday on the eve of the International Investment Forum Sochi 2014 that is due to open on Friday.

The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russian major companies and banks, including the oil giant Rosneft, the state-owned Sberbank, VTB and Gazprombank, thus practically blocking loans for them in Western markets of capital because of Ukraine’s crisis.

“The situation is unlikely to change in the near future from the point of view of external conditions that are influencing Russia’s economy,” Kozak said. “Business people are interested in how we will create conditions for investments in the foreseeable future.”

Kozak said that “many wonderful things are needed’ to lift the sanctions and there is a long way ahead for seeking “compromises around Ukraine, firstly, domestic compromises that political forces in Ukraine should find.”

At the same time, Kozak said that the number of forum participants had grown considerably on last year.

The Sochi International Investment Forum is the country’s second largest investment platform after the St. Petersburg Economic Forum.

On September 19, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is expected to open the Sochi forum’s business programme and to give a speech at a plenary meeting titled ‘Russia between Europe and Asia: A New Regional Policy in Modern Circumstances’.

“We try to tackle pressing issues every year,” Kozak said. “This year has its peculiarities as the country has found itself in a complicated situation in the foreign economic sphere. Certainly, the business and authorities will focus on economic growth in these difficult conditions.