PROJECT OBJECTIVES Support the efforts of the Government of the Russian Federation to identify and remove administrative barriers to investment and business development both at the regional/municipal and federal levels by providing analysis and recommendations for improvement, as well as developing, and transferring the methodology of the project to Russian partners.
COMPONENTS OF THE PROJECT The project consists of the following components:
Initial assessment of administrative procedures for investment and business development, identification of barriers, analysis and recommendations (including base-line round of monitoring), presented in the form of a report. For the assessments, after the first report in 2001 which was based on in-depth interviews with government and businesses and a small business survey, two instruments are being used: (1) standard templates on administrative procedures to gather official information from government agencies; (2) surveys of a representative samples of businesses (since 2004 - legal entities and sole proprietors) to assess the actual experiences of businesses with administrative procedures
Dialog between administration, government agencies of all levels and private business to discuss recommendations, agree on priorities and work out an Action Plan. Such dialog is an essential part of the project at every stage.
Action Plan which includes a formulation of an objective, concrete reform measures, responsible agencies, deadlines for implementation, and indicators to measure the impact.
Reforms implementation. Administrations approve the Action Plan and implement it.
New survey and analysis (monitoring) to measure the impact and to identify new priorities and thus revise and update the Action Plan.
This makes a cycle of reforms that can be repeated many times.
FIRST STAGE OF THE PROJECT: 2000-2001 The first regions that requested the study were: - Leningrad Oblast,
- Novgorod Oblast,
- St. Petersburg,
- Sverdlovsk Oblast, and
- Tomsk Oblast
The project team included international experts and Russian experts from Invest-In company based in Novgorod (www.invest-in.ru)
In 2001 FIAS presented a report Study of Administrative Barriers to Investment within Subjects of the Russian Federation. September 2001 : Leningrad Oblast, Novgorod Oblast, St. Petersburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, and Tomsk Oblast. These reports were property of a client and were published with the permission of respective administrations. FIAS has changed its information disclosure policy toward more openness and all reports prepared by the FIAS projects are published. Project partners participate in preparation of reports and have a chance to make their comments to the reports.
Russian version
English version
The report includes the analysis of administrative procedures which any domestic or foreign investor must follow to start a new company and/or make an investment. It also covers the process of interaction between businessmen and various state organizations during the normal business operations. The report documents the steps that must be followed, how long they take, and how much they cost. It also contains detailed recommendations aimed at improvement of the current situation.
SECOND STAGE OF THE PROJECT For the second stage of the project FIAS used a new approach which includes as one of the components a business survey in each region carried out by the Russian Institute of Social and Nationalities Problems (www.riisnp.ru)
FIAS undertook similar analyses in - Kaliningrad Oblast,
- Perm Oblast,
and provided follow-up assistance in
- Tomsk Oblast
500 respondents were surveyed in each region. Results of this work are introduced in the report Administrative Barriers to Investment within Subjects of the Russian Federation: Tomsk, Perm and Kaliningrad Oblasts (June 2004)
English Version | Russian Version
In 2002-2003 six more regions requested FIAS assistance and received financial support from donor organizations
The survey component of the work is carried out by the Russian SME Resource Center (www.rcsme.ru) with participation of specialists from regions.
Reports on administrative barriers with recommendations have been prepared for each region. The following regions participated: The survey was repeated (i.e. 2nd round of monitoring), and it allowed to make comparisons in the change of business climate, in In 2006 two more regions of the Southern Federal Okrug join the project: - Republic of North Ossetiya - Alaniya
- Republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia
Survey dates and sample size  |
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| REGION | TIME OF SURVEY | DATA GATHERED FOR THE PERIOD OF | SAMPLE SIZE | OUT OF: LEGAL ENTITIES | OUT OF: SOLE PROPRIETORS |
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| Kaliningrad Oblast | 2002 | 2001 | 500 | 500 | n/a | | Perm Oblast | 2002 | 2001 | 500 | 500 | n/a | | Tomsk Oblast (1) | 2002 | 2001 | 500 | 500 | n/a | | Leningrad Oblast | May - Jul 2003 | 2002 | 900 | 500+200 | 200 | | Magadan (city) | May - Aug 2003 | 2002 | 161 | 82 | 79 | | Nizhny Novgorod Oblast | Apr - Jun 2003 | 2002 | 700 | 502 | 198 | | Irkutsk Oblast | Dec 2003 - Feb 2004 | last 12 months | 400 | 300 | 100 | | Rostov Oblast | Dec 2003 - Feb 2004 | last 12 months | 716 | 500 | 216 | | Tomsk Oblast (2) | Dec 2003 - Feb 2004 | last 12 months | 400 | 300 | 100 | | Sakhalin Oblast | April - June 2004 | last 12 months | 200 | 100 | 100 | |
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ACTION PLAN DEVELOPMENT Based on the surveys FIAS develops recommendations on improvement of business climate for each region. These recommendations should be reviewed by representatives of business community, regional and municipal administrations, regulating agencies; concrete tasks should be formulated indicating responsibility, time and indicators for progress evaluation. For example, Tomsk Oblast Administration in cooperation with representatives of business and regulating agencies developed a special action plan on reduction of administration barriers. This action plan was approved for implementation by the Governor of the region, was evaluated, and amended to include new issues. Further as the importance of administrative barriers has being recognized in Russia, Tomsk Oblast, as well as other regions include FIAS recommendations on administrative barriers to comprehensive action plans or strategy of regional economic development. For Tomsk Oblast see http://www.tomsk.gov.ru/pls/guber/web.page?pid=62 - Decision of Governor of Tomsk Oblast of 16 November 2002 #442-r "On Approval of Plan of Priority Measure to Remove Administrative Barriers to Investment"
- Decision of Governor of Tomsk Oblast of 11 April 2003 #241-r "On Amendments and Additions to Decision of Governor of Tomsk Oblast of 16 November 2002 #442-r"
OTHER ACTIVITES SPECIALIZED EXPERTISE The project envisages a specialized expertise on topics selected and agreed with the administration - the FIAS partner in the project. - Kaliningrad Oblast - Special Economic Zone. 2002
One of the main problem identified during the study was the problem of business access to land and real estate. This issue was addressed in a number of analytical reports with recommendations, developed specifically for the following regions: - Tomsk Oblast (March 2003) Russian | English
- Perm Oblast (July 2003) Russian | English
- Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (September 2004) - upon request
- Leningrad Oblast (April 2005) Russian | English
- Irkutsk Oblast (May 2006, draft) - upon request
- Rostov Oblast (August 2006, draft) - upon request
For improvement of investment promotion skills the following short practical materials were presented: - Receipt of Foreign Investors
Manual: Russian | English
Presentation: upon request
SURVEY OF POTENTIAL INVESTORS (June 2004)
Surveys of existing businesses fail to take account of firms who failed to start or were discouraged to start in a particular location due to administrative or other barriers. FIAS piloted surveys of "potential investors" with a special survey instrument targeted at investors who have shown some interest in a particular location, but did not invest there. The survey was conducted in the following regions: COOPERATION WITH CEFIR
FIAS cooperates with the Center for Economic and Financial Research in the project of Monitoring of Administrative Barriers to Small Business Development in Russia in 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounds on the section of their study dealing with land the real estate issues. See: www.cefir.org
LAND AND REAL ESTATE ISSUES
FIAS has produced the following reports to address this issue: - Final Report on Business Access to Land. Prepared for the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation. October 2005
Russian version | English version
- Review of Land and Real Estate Cases. Prepared for the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service. November 2005
Russian version | English version
SURVEY OF LAND AND REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION (March 2006)
The project receives financial support from the European Union, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco), and FIAS (the World Bank Group). See link for details
ESTIMATION OF COST OF ADMINISTRATIVE BARRIERS TO RUSSIAN ECONOMY FIAS prepared a report Estimation of cost of administrative barriers to Russian economy/ September 2005
Russian version | English version The report analyze the administrative barriers survey results which FIAS conducted in 2003 and 2004 in 7 Russian regions. CONGRESS "KEY FACTORS OF INVESTMENT SUCCESS IN THE RUSSIAN REGIONS" 16-17 November 2005, Moscow. Organized together with the Expert Magazine and Expert Rating Agency More detailes
PARTNERS RUSSIAN PARTNERS
The main FIAS partners the Federal level of government for these work are the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation and the Federal Antimonopoly Service.
In the Southern Federal Okrug FIAS cooperates with the Administration of Plenipotentiary Representative of President of the Russian Federation in the SFO At the regional level FIAS cooperates with respective regional or city administrations:
1. Irkutsk Oblast
2. Kaliningrad Oblast
3. Leningrad Oblast
4. Magadan City
5. Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
6. Novgorod Oblast
7. Perm Oblast
8. Rostov Oblast
9. Sakhalin Oblast
10. St. Petersburg
11. Sverdlovsk Oblast
12. Tomsk Oblast
13. Republic of North Ossetiya - Alaniya
14. Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia
All projects are jointly financed by Donors, FIAS and respective regional or municipal administrations
DONORS
Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom - St.Petersburg
- Leningrad Oblast
- Novgorod Oblast
- Sverdlovsk Oblast
- Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
- Tomsk Oblast
- Irkutsk Oblast
- Rostov Oblast
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
- Kaliningrad Oblast
- Perm Oblast
- Sakhalin Oblast
Canadian International Development Agency together with the International Finance Corporation (IFC)
European Union
- Republic of North Ossetiya - Alaniya
- Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia
- Survey of Land and Real Estate Transactions in the Russian Federation, 2005-2006 (cofinancing with seco and FIAS)
The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco)
- Survey of Land and Real Estate Transactions in the Russian Federation, 2005-2006 (cofinancing with EC and FIAS)
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