Russian PM Approves Creation of Four New Accelerated Development Areas

Russian government signed a decree on the establishment of four new accelerated development territories in the country.

GORKI (Moscow Region) (Sputnik) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday signed a government decree on the establishment of four new accelerated development territories in the country.

"This is a government decree about the creation of four new territories undergoing accelerated socioeconomic development. What can be especially important about this is that [these territories are located] not in the Far East, but in Mordovia, Udmurtia, the Yaroslavl Region and the Saratov Region. We expect that it would be possible to attract overall 20 billion rubles [$350 million] in investment to these regions in the coming 10 years due to the creation of such territories," Medvedev said during a meeting with deputy prime ministers.

Moreover, Medvedev added that the authorities of these four regions had already signed over 30 agreements with investors. The prime minister also provided examples of future enterprise creation under such agreements, including a furniture factory in the Republic of Mordovia, diesel generators production facilities in the Yaroslavl Region, a liquefied natural gas plant in the Saratov Region as well as recreational centers in the Udmurtian Republic.

"All of this will allow to create in these four regions nearly 10,000 permanent jobs in the coming years, to decrease the dependence of these territories on town-forming companies and to improve the quality of life there as a whole," Medvedev explained.

Meanwhile, accelerated development territories are stipulated by a 2014 law providing major tax breaks to resident businesses. Under the legislation, during the first three years since the law came into force, such territories can be created only in the Russian Far East.