18 May 2004 12:27
German expert says political stability boosting investment in Russia
Increased political stability is a factor behind rising foreign investment in Russia, Andreas Meyer-Landrut, a former
German diplomat who is now an adviser to German companies on cooperation with Russia, told Ekho Moskvy radio on 18 May.
However, he added that Russia's image in the eyes of firms looking to invest was "not very good".
Meyer-Landrut said that firms thinking about doing business in Russia were interested in the investment climate. He
defined this as the way companies are received in Russia and the legal and administrative conditions they will have to
work in. Meyer-Landrut highlighted long and complicated administrative procedures as a particular problem for foreign
companies. He also said that legal problems had occasionally risen for German companies and that these had been
"resolved with great difficulty, sometimes going to the highest level of government".
Meyer-Landrut said that large German businesses investing in Russia tended to be from the west of the country, but
knowledge of the Russian language was a factor encouraging small businessmen from eastern Germany to do business in
Russia. He said that businessmen coming to Russia needed someone to advise them, as "some things are simply done
differently here than in the West". He said that people had a different attitude to money in Russia, adding that
"sometimes they steal".
Meyer-Landrut said that things were difficult in Russia but "the potential and market here are very large".
He said that Russia had a very well trained workforce, large reserves of raw materials and a former industrial base.
"People have been trained to work in industry, we just have to give them the opportunity," he said.
Meyer-Landrut said that the most interesting area for investment in Russia was medium-sized plants producing
industrial parts, for example, car parts and plastic goods, as these are produced to a low standard in Russia.
Finally, Meyer-Landrut was asked whether the fact that Russians drink a lot was a problem. "Of course," he
replied.
[Ekho Moskvy radio] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
