On February 11, a working meeting was held in the Saratov Region Development Corporation with regard to improvement of energy efficiency of the companies working in the region.
Alexander Marchenko, Head of the Saratov Region Development Corporation held a meeting with Denis Shifrin, the Director of Hevel Retail OOO (included into GK Hevel), involving representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, Asset Management Committee, GAU PEI IK SO Agency, GUP SO Oblvodoresurs, MUP Engels-Vodokanal and MUP Pokrovsk-Teplo that were potentially interested in installation of solar power stations in their enterprises.
During the working meeting, the possibility of installing network solar power stations at the facilities in Saratov region was discussed by the parties in detail. As a result of the meeting it was agreed that representatives of Hevel Retail OOO would visit the facilities of GUP SO Oblvodoresurs to carry out a pre-project investigation and preparation of a technical and economic proposal for the construction of solar power plants for the priority facilities defined by the parties.
Apart from that, a working meeting between the management of Hevel Retail OOO and Vladimir Fedechkin, Director of GAU PEI IK SO Agency is planned to be held in order to discuss the mechanisms of cooperation, including modernization of the infrastructure of facilities with the use of the energy service agreement mechanism in the region.
Press office of the Saratov Region Development Corporation

‘Business and Authority – Full Contact’ Open Inter-Regional Investment Debates were held on September 11 in the course of the Second Economic Forum in Saratov. The debates were attended by representatives of development institutes, businesses, society, experts, authorities and media communities. More than 170 visitors came to view the debates.

‘The aim of the authorities consists in building the interior efficiency. I’m sure that having listened to and analyzed all facts delivered by both the business and authorities of government institutions we are to find justified and well founded solutions’ – these were the opening words for the investment workshop delivered by Vadim Oikin, the First Deputy Vice Governor of Saratov region, Minister of Finances of Saratov region.

The event started with an interactive voting which allowed each viewer to evaluate, under an online mode and using a digital platform, the degree of involvement of the Authorities and Business into the process of development of measures aiming at improving the business environment and investment climate, thus dipping into the discussion atmosphere

Andrey Krylov acted as the host and moderator of the debates and specified the general goal of the debates: affinity, mutual understanding, agreement. The debates were held in 5 stages – representatives of the authority group studied particular problems presented by the business group, asked clarification questions and hiving received comments from experts, went to make out mutual solutions under the ‘brainstorming’ mode.

A wide range of issues not defined according to their specifics were considered in the course of the debates. The questions asked to representatives of authorities regarded promotion of products belonging to the agroindustrial complex of Saratov, improvement of conditions for producers as regards their cooperation with local and federal networks, modernization of the algorithm of state services provision including establishing a regulation of entrepreneurs in the construction sector.
Investment proposals from the Business group were delivered by Yakov Streltsin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lepta Group of Companies, Mikhail Volkov, Director of TsTV OOO, Pavel Pipunyrov, Director of Original OOO, Vyacheslav Ilushka, Investments Department Director of Meditsinskaya Investitsionnaya Gruppa OOO, Mamuka Topchishvili, Director of SOHO restaurant, Denis Kahirov, Director of the Regional Branch of Opory Rossiyi, Vladislav Korovin, representative of Opory Rossiyi.
Representative of the Authorities group reviewed proposals online and attempted to find common solutions for the problems – Nataliya Mazina, Minister of Health of Saratov Region, Elena Zlobnova, Deputy Head for Strategy Planning of the Administration of the City of Saratov Municipal Entity, Sergey Zarechnev, Director of the Territorial Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund for Saratov Region, Elizaveta Nechayevskaya, Deputy Minister – Head of the Foreign Economic and Investment Activities Department of the Ministry of Economic Development of Saratov region, Marina Lobanova, Deputy Minister – Chief Architect of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Utilities Infrastructure of Saratov region, Vladimir Goncharov, Head of the Environmental Management Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Saratov region, Vladimir Mukhin, Head of the Directorate for Cultural Heritage Site Protection of the Government of Saratov region.

Invited experts – Azat Gazizov, First Vice President of the All-Russia Non-Governmental Organization for Small and Medium-Sized Entrepreneurship Opora Rossiyi, Guzel Baskakova, Head of the Division for Investment Policy of the Department for Investment Policy and Promotion of Entrepreneurship of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, Aleksander Ulyanov, Member of the Gubernatorial Investments Council of Saratov region, Nikolay Vladimirov, Chairman of Board of Directors of the Self-Regulatory Organization ‘Association of Cadastral Engineers of the Volga–Urals District’, Maksim Dankin, senior manager of the Mono-Industry Towns Development Foundation, curator of mono-industry towns of Saratov region, Mikhail Patrichenko, Business Rights Commissioner for Saratov region; the experts participated actively in the discussion, providing comments from various points of view. During the discussion, the experts noted a high level of interest among the debates participants in solving the issues specified by the Business group.

‘It’s a new format of searching for unusual and efficient solutions. Debates are not a one-touch play, the results are dependent on various structures. We are seeing today that only having gathered representatives of authorities, society and business together we are able to find a common solution for the development of Saratov region, - says Alexander Marchenko, Head of the Development Corporation when giving his comment regarding the event.

On December 12, a workshop was held at ‘My Business’ Entrepreneur Center by PMA Consulting Agency (Saint Petersburg) supported by the Development Corporation. The topic of the workshop was ‘Public-Private Partnership as a Mechanism for Attraction of Investments in the field of State and Municipal Management, Practical Aspects of Preparation and Conclusion of Concessionaire Agreements’ and it was held for representatives of executive authorities and municipal administration of Saratov region.
More than 20 representatives of municipal districts of Saratov region were present at the workshop including representatives of mono-industry towns (Petrovsk, Volsk), Balakovo town and others. The experts in infrastructure projects support from PMA Agency shared their experience in implementation of public-private and municipal-private partnership.
When delivering his speech, Maksim Gudkov, Deputy Director General of PMA Agency revealed the main concepts and key peculiarities of concession mechanisms and presented various options for starting a concession project.
‘One of the advantages of public-private partnership consists in a long-term cooperation between the state and a private investor, with the tax rates remaining unchanged’, highlights Maksim Gudkov.
Anastasia Deinega, Director of the Legal Department of PMA, touched critical legal questions related to the sphere of rights and obligations or parties under a concessionaire agreement which resulted in an active discussion among the workshop participants. Following that, the expert talked about the mechanisms of federal support provided to projects involving public-private partnership including presented practical aspects of structuralization and development of a financial model for projects.
During the workshop, special attention was also paid to industry-specific practices of a private concession initiative in the transportation, social and other sectors. At the end of the workshop, the participants in cooperation with PMA experts studies particular situation of implementation and adjustment of projects involving public-private partnership and received recommendations with regard to preparation and commencement of projects.

The winners and awardees of the ‘Investor of the Year’ competition were recently awarded in Saratov region
10 awardees and 11 winners were defined based on the competition results. The total number of participants was 35. The Ministry of Economic Development of the region in cooperation with the Development Corporation organized a prize awarding ceremony.
The awardees of the ‘Investor of the Year’ competition in various categories are: Balakovo-Tsentrolit, Rezinotekhnika and Dias enterprises, Trudovoi stud farm, Tatischevskiy KKhP, Shkolnaya Karta OOO, Balakovo Branch of Apatit AO, Transfer OOO, EOKG Signal named after A.I. Glukharev, Doctor Paramonov’s Clinic.
The winners of the ‘Investor of the Year’ competition in various categories are: Saratovneftgaz, Premium Tekstil, Stroiresurs, Ulyanovskiy, Svinokompleks Khvalynskiy, Agrotorg, Balakovo Branch of Apatit, Germes country club, PrivZhD - Branch of RZhD, RZhD-Meditsina clinical hospital in Saratov.
The prize ‘Investor of the Year’ was awarded to the project ‘Construction of Gagarin Airport Complex’ by SarAero-Invest AO.