Dear friends,

It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to the Republic of Tatarstan, one of Russia's fastest-growing regions, located at the intersection of strategic trade routes connecting northern and southern Russia, as well as Asia and Europe.

Today, it is widely recognised that Tatarstan has significant potential in terms of attracting direct investment, primarily from foreign countries. Leading consultancies rank the republic among Russia’s most favourable regions in terms of investment climate and business opportunities. International rating agency Moody’s gave Tatarstan a Ba1 investment rating, while rating agency Fitch gave it BBB, indicating that the region’s economy is both a highly reliable and attractive destination for investment. Today, 1255 commercial organizations with foreign investment are registered in Tatarstan, of which 582 are wholly foreign owned.

Tatarstan has established its own Tatarstan Investment Development Agency to ensure effective collaboration between the authorities and investors. This agency joined the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) in September 2011. The Agency’s key objectives are promoting Tatarstan in the global economy, attracting investors to the republic, and supporting ongoing investment projects.  

The Republic of Tatarstan is actively working to develop modern industrial sites with diverse profiles, as well as industrial parks and business process outsourcing centres, which provide a favourable environment and meet investor requirements.

Special Economic Zone is the best known of all such business platforms. Its residents have access to a fully established manufacturing, engineering, utilities, transport and customs infrastructure, while also enjoying a number of tax and customs benefits. Other facilities include Technopolis Himgrad, which was specially designed for chemicals and polymer processing companies, and the Kama Industrial Park (KIP) Master, which was specially designed for heavy engineering enterprises and is one of the republic’s prized initiatives. We are also currently working on the SMART City Kazan project - a state-of-the-art international business hub with the latest ICT facilities and infrastructure and eco-friendly technologies which will create a high quality of life and work. Kazan will have modern high quality infrastructure comprising an exhibition and convention centre, financial and administrative centres, a high-technological zone, an educational zone (primary and secondary schools, universities), private hospitals, a commercial centre. Among the perspective residents of SMART City Kazan there will be export, insurance and finance companies, business processes outsourcing centres, research centres, hotels and universities, governmental entities. 

The Republic of Tatarstan is consistently implementing projects to develop industrial and park areas. Tatarstan’s legislation is in line with modern standards, and guarantees and protects the rights of investors. The relevant legislative base comprises the laws “On Foreign Investments of the Republic of Tatarstan” and “On Investment Activities of the Republic of Tatarstan”. A law “On public-private partnerships” was recently enacted in Tatarstan, which creates the essential conditions for expanding the number of PPP-based projects.

Particular attention should be paid to the development of Tatarstan’s transport network. Airlines, motorways, railways and navigable rivers constitute the core of this network. From a transport perspective, Tatarstan is located at a critical crossroads, linking the Urals, Siberia and the Far East with European Russia and a number of CIS countries.

We can state with confidence that we are moving in the right direction, given that such internationally recognized companies as Ford-Sollers, Rockwool, Hayat Group, Daimler, Lufthansa, Schneider Electric, 3M, Armstrong and Fujitsu have all chosen Tatarstan as a place to do business.

I can ensure you that the key economic policy priorities of Tatarstan’s leadership have always been, and will continue to be, aimed at marketing the republic more attractive for the global investment community, and supporting business development and entrepreneurial initiatives.

We would be delighted to welcome you as a business partner, and wish you every success in carrying out your projects here, in the Republic of Tatarstan.