Russia Has Huge Resource Potential, Talented Specialists - McKinsey Head

McKinsey & Company head urged global investors to pay more attention to Russia as it has vast natural and human resources as the world sees scarcity of both nowadays adding that decrease in oil prices will have short-term effect.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Global investors should pay more attention to Russia because it has vast natural and human resources, while current difficulties are short-term, head of the multinational management consulting firm McKinsey & Company said on Friday.

"The first reason [I am optimistic about Russia] is its huge resource potential. The future world will see very limited amounts of resources….. Yes, now the prices for oil and copper are low. But this is a short-term decline," Dominic Barton told the Russian Kommersant newspaper.

Russia is also rich in talented and well-qualified people, who are involved in various international high-ranking businesses, the McKinsey head added.

Russia's geographical position contributes to the possibility of its economic growth, Barton said, pointing out that the increasing cooperation between Russia and China is "natural" and gives both countries a lot of benefits and opportunities, but Moscow should not "write off" Western markets, despite current geopolitical tensions.

Following the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014 and the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis later that year, Russia's relations with the West deteriorated rapidly. The United States, the European Union and their allies accused Moscow of interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs, something that Russia has repeatedly denied.

As a punitive measure, the West imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia, targeting the country’s economy, as well as certain individuals. Russia has repeatedly stressed that the sanctions are counterproductive and hurt both the target country and those using the measure.