Paul
Goble
Staunton, October 31 – Half of the
increase in investment in the North Caucasus Moscow is promoting to pacify that
unsettled region has gone to the predominantly ethnic Russian Stavropol Kray,
whereas “the size of investments in the national republics” has been “more
modest,” Presidential Plenipotentiary Aleksandr Khloponin says.
Speaking to a Kislovodsk forum of
major companies operating in his North Caucasus Federal District last Saturday,
Khloponin said that investment in the district had increased by 113 percent
during the first half of this year compared to a year ago and that as a result
unemployment had fallen (expert.ru/2012/10/30/rabota-nad-kavkazskimi-oshibkami/?n=66995).
But he acknowledged that much of
this new investment had gone into the predominantly Russian Stavropol kray
rather than the more unstable non-Russian republics and that this “inequality”
was a matter of concern given that Moscow’s strategy is to promote economic
growth there to undercut the appeal of those fighting against it.
In addition to the imbalance between investments
in Stavropol and those in the non-Russian republics, Khloponin identified five
other problems with the pattern of investment.
First, he said the Corporation for the Development of the North Caucasus
have failed to reach out and support small and mid-sized companies, thus limiting
the corporation’s impact.
Second, the presidential
plenipotentiary pointed to “choke points” in the financial system, including
what he described as “the still not too effective” government program which
provides state guarantees to investors prepared to develop
government-identified priority projects in the North Caucasus Federal District.
Third, Khloponin noted “the
passivity of local elites in the district, in the first instance, those in the
organs of self-administration which are accustomed to using their own budgetary
funds instead of working with investors.
Fourth, he said that in his region, “the
system of higher education has been seriously discredited” despite the survival
of what he described as “a number of good higher educational institutions in
the region.”
Khloponin called for “the closure of
ineffective regional branches of higher educational institutions of the
capital, the centralization of the system of higher education, and the
formation of a new ‘mark of quality’ on the foundation of the recently
established North Caucasus Federal University.”
And fifth, the Presidential
Plenipotentiary pointed to the impact of “the negative image of the region in
the media,” an image which reduces its attractiveness as a place for
investment. “Today,” he said, “Italian
entrepreneurs are investing more in the North Caucasus than are Russian
investors. This means that we do not
believe in ourselves and our potential.”
No comments:
Post a Comment