On the eve of the SPIEF-2017, the magazine BIGRUSSIA conducted a thematic survey. ‘Despite the current sanctions, there will be more foreign participants of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF - 2017) this year. This is confirmed by the results of a survey conducted by the editorial board of the multilingual Internet magazine BIGRUSSIA (short for Business Investment Guide to RUSSIA) among heads of foreign chambers of commerce and industry, associations and unions of foreign entrepreneurs, as well as consulting agencies that have their business in Russia’, notes the publication. The participants in the survey identified TOP-15 of the most attractive regions in terms of doing business in Russia. Lipetsk region was ranked the 10th.

The formation of a favorable investment climate was given great attention of the regional authorities. The SEZ ‘Lipetsk’ is successfully operating. Today, 50 resident companies from 16 countries are registered here. The volume of the declared investments amounts to 153 billion rubles. More than three thousand highly-qualified jobs have been created. The second part of the SEZ is designed for another 45 residents and investments of more than 170 billion rubles. Regional SEZs created by the initiative of the head of the administration of the Lipetsk region Oleg Korolev is also actively developing.

The regional authorities strive for further forming of a positive investment image of the region and attracting investments in the economy, aligning the starting conditions for investment processes in municipalities, developing international and interregional cooperation. ‘The region is ready to offer the investor favorable conditions for the implementation of investment projects in the region in accordance with the current legislation, to provide state support for the implementation of investment projects. We are constantly working on increasing the investment attractiveness of the Lipetsk region,’ noted Oleg Korolev, the head of the region’s executive body, on several occasions.