Alexander Nikolaevich Mikhailov, Governor of Kursk region, addresses participants of CEF 2013
I am happy indeed to welcome you on the website of the second Central Russian Economic Forum due July 5-6, 2013 in Kursk region.
What I can tell you is that last year, nobody was sure if our new forum would take off. We are sober-minded when it comes to the role and place of Kursk region in Russia’s development: St. Petersburg, Sochi, Krasnoyarsk are a long way ahead of us in the way of the old traditions of large-scale, widely recognized international forums. But the forum for the sake of it was not our ultimate goal. For a long time, we had felt the lack of live dialogue with colleagues in Central Russia’s regions, the lack of venues to thrash out the key issues on the way to the common goal of our regions: a decent life for our people.
Kursk region has made appreciable progress in solving many of the economic issues Central Russia encounters today. We have a perfect understanding of the economic requirements both here and in the neighboring regions, the needs of people living here. This is what makes us a good choice as a permanent communication vehicle for the power authorities, the business community, NGOs and civil society formations in Central Russia’s regions.
The first Central Russian Economic Forum highlighted the genuine interest of the business and scientific communities in the matters discussed and proved that the decision to hold the forum annually was correct.
This year’s mission is to continue discussing the development trajectories of Central Russia’s regions, with a special focus on the search for highly effective mechanisms of balancing the positive international labor division drivers and the domestic interregional cooperation potential.
While knowing how important it is to expand production for export purposes, I am also positive that the development of Russia’s domestic market in the way of both production and consumption is the top priority. After Russia’s accession to the WTO, producers of goods and services have to adapt to the changed working environment meeting new requirements and facing tougher competition.
Kursk region has already seen the first effects of working under WTO rules and regulations as pork imports to our food market increased rapidly. The pork meat delivery prices are much below what it costs to grow pigs at our pig-breeding complexes. Meat-processing plants naturally prefer cheaper primary products, which strangles local producers. As a result, producers running large pig-breeding complexes in Kursk region (more than twenty such companies were launched in recent years) are on the brink of ruin. It should be spotlighted that consumers do not benefit from this: pork meat products has not gone down in price in grocery stores.
We cannot completely solve this issue resorting to purely administrative measures. My point is that we need to boost production efficiency both cutting inefficient expenses while preserving the state support and, which is of special importance, developing our own breeding and cross-breeding research and production capacities. It is of vital importance to come up with Russian pig breeds at least equal to Danish or German breeds, to develop highly effective feed milling facilities and to build advanced meat processing chains. If there are different opinions, why not discuss them?
Some of the regions in the Central Federal District border on other states, which, given the growing international trade, means extra opportunities and additional problems – both will be discussed at a session of the Council of heads of Central Russia’s regions during the Central Russian Economic Forum.
No region can normally develop without creating new production sites offering new jobs and increasing the tax base. To a large extent, we owe such production sites to our earnest effort to achieve a favorable investment climate.
Today, there is a certain roadmap we must follow to succeed. This roadmap is documented as the ‘Performance Standard for executive authorities of Russia’s federal subject to ensure a favorable investment climate in the region’ developed by nonprofit organization “Agency for Strategic Initiatives on New Projects”. I am sure that the overwhelming majority of the Russian regions, if not all of them, will adopt the guidelines of the Standard this year. Putting these guidelines into practice gives rise to many questions which may be discussed at the second Central Russian Economic Forum.
There are many issues to discuss indeed. It is essential that we hear and understand each other and are committed to the dialogue despite the difference of opinions.
We are preparing a venue for the business contest of Central Russia’s investment projects. May the best one win!
Representatives of the business community interested in the development and business expansion opportunities, scientists and experts engaged in various sectors of economy, heads and specialists of authorities of various echelons, representatives of investment and consulting companies are kindly invited to take part in the events of the second Central Russian Economic Forum and the Kursk Korenskaya Trade Fair.
Welcome to Kursk region, the land of nightingales!
Governor of Kursk region
A.N. Mikhailov
