HOME Regions Kamchatka 03.09.2014

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"20 years ago, it was about survival, today - about development"

Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, shared his view on the problems of development of the Kamchatka Territory and on the prospects of the investment forum "Far East - 2014".

- Alexander Nikolayevich, you were already here in 1993, and now after 21 a year again on our land. How much has Kamchatka changed during this time?

- Of course, the current situation and twenty years ago are fundamentally different. Then it was about survival, now it is about development.

- What, in your opinion, are the main points of development of the Kamchatka Territory?

- It is necessary to implement the program of development of the Far East and the projects of the territories of advanced development (TOP). Kamchatka not without reason claims for several TOP. This is likely to be a transport and logistics hub based on Petropavlovsk, tied to the Northern Sea Route.

In addition, port zones around the world are often combined with special economic zones of industrial type, and here one can clearly see the possibility of creating a priority development area based on such a transport-logistic and industrial center.

This is the first direction of development. The second is the further realization in Kamchatka of a combined model for the development of the fuel and energy complex. There is geothermal power in Kamchatka. In addition, here the highest tides in Russia - in the Koryaksky District, the water level drop reaches a record 13 meters. The construction of a tidal power plant is an exotic project by our times, but it would demonstrate the potential of renewable energy sources. In addition to geothermal and tidal energy, of course, there are also traditional sources, in particular gas. It is not ruled out that by digging the Kamchatka shelf, it will be possible to find more reserves there than it is now explored. On the agenda and hydropower. The Kamchatka Krai development project provides for the construction of a cascade of HPPs on the Zhupanov River.

Of course, it is also necessary to mention the development of the fisheries complex. Northern Kamchatka salmon is better than Atlantic, which is recognized by both Norwegians, Americans and Scots. And of course, Kamchatka should develop in the field of tourism. So that tourists could swim along the fjords of the Koryak district, and on Bering Island, and not only in Petropavlovsk and neighboring bays. It is remarkable that there are so many reserves here, the nature world, flora and fauna are preserved and restored, this is very interesting for many foreign tourists, and for Russian ones.

- What do you think, how will the Far East-2014 investment forum benefit the region?

- Despite the fact that the forum will be more devoted to the problems of the Kamchatka region, we expect that it will not just be a fair of local projects, but will become a platform where you can understand the place of Kamchatka in the global, Asian-Pacific regional space Far East. It is important to determine the competitive advantages of Kamchatka. Moreover, it is probably correct to hold forums not regional - Kamchatka, Primorye, Khabarovsk, but it is better to turn any Federation subject into the capital of a specific topic and discuss specific issues throughout the Far East. For example, Kamchatka could assume the theme of the transport and logistics infrastructure, bearing in mind the Northern Sea Route.

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This is necessary in order to prevent competition where competition is not needed. It is easier to look at the specialization of regions, which clusters are more profitable to develop and how to combine them with each other. In particular, if Primorye and Kamchatka compete in which of them to send fish along the Northern Sea Route, nothing good will come of it. Primorye in such a situation is better to do the transfer of fish overland.

- What are, in your opinion, the prospects of the mining industry?

- Mining cluster is traditional for the Kamchatka region. But any project related to the development of deposits (not only in Kamchatka, but almost everywhere in the Far East and in Siberia), "pulls" for itself a lot of unresolved infrastructure obstacles - transport, energy ... It's the same in Kamchatka. Here we need to look not just at stocks and potential opportunities, but also on logistics and infrastructure.

- Should the regional authorities give any preferences to large business players in order to attract them?

- In fact, there should be no benefits. There is such a mechanism - “the mechanism of deferred payment of taxes”. This is not a benefit that is paid from the current budget. This is a kind of production sharing agreement for a time until the investment project started generating revenue. Now, with regard to Crimea, a law has been passed, according to which this scheme, the scheme of deferred tax payments, can be applied. Earlier, when we were breaking through this idea, the ministries said: let the regions themselves provide this benefit. But the regions have a small share. She is not interested in investors. But if there is a deferred payment on federal taxes (actually - “tax credit”: until you start generating income in excess of the costs paid, you do not pay taxes), it will work. The region, especially if it is subsidized, cannot give a lot of benefits. Without the federal part you will not be interested in an investor.

We finally managed to convince the Ministry of Finance that this is not a "falling income" of the budget. After all, if there is no project, there is no loss of income. This is the formation of the tax base for future periods. Such schemes can not be universally given, but in the territories of advanced development in the Far East, in the Crimea.

- Can we build the work of the federal center and regional authorities, and bring the legislation into such a condition that investors in the Far East would really be better off? And compared with not only other regions of Russia, but also with countries in the Asia-Pacific region?

- I will answer simply. We have no other way. If we fail to build this system of relations, we will lose to other APR countries. It is clear that we have certain disadvantages, the climate is bad, geopolitics, the more it is necessary to "interrupt" the more attractive conditions.

Text: Oleg Belov