Dear Experts of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives!
This section was created in order to promptly inform you about the activities carried out by the Government of the Kurgan Region and the ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund aimed at improving the investment climate in the region, the work of public representatives of the ASI and regional expert groups.
In case of any questions or suggestions, please contact us by e-mail: invest@kurganobl.ru
The Kurgan Region has implemented a full range of support measures (financial and non-financial support measures), which can be provided within the framework of investment and budget legislation. The legal framework is determined by Laws No. 54 ‘On the Investment Policy of the Kurgan Region’ and No. 505 ‘On the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses’ in the Kurgan Region”, a number of aspects are regulated by legislation on the support of industrial and innovative activities, legislation on technological clusters.
The following areas should be mentioned.
The first block comprises the measures which are implemented within the framework of the small and medium-sized production support system by the ‘Microfinance Fund of the Kurgan Region’.
The second block comprises tax incentives for investment activities, including benefits for participants, ‘SPIC’ [Special Investment Contract].
In connection with the introduction of amendments to the Tax Code in 2018, blocking the possibility for the region to apply profit tax relief after 2022, additional legislative measures have been taken:
– a guarantee of tax regime stability for the PIP [Priority Investment Project] is implemented (the investor is guaranteed the existing preferential tax regime until at least 2022)
– new OKVED classes are integrated to attract investors to high-tech sectors;
– amendments have been prepared regarding the application of the investment tax deduction for PIP participants from 2023 (instead of the concessionary profit tax rate).
There is also a mechanism for changing the terms of tax payment in the form of an investment tax incentives.
Special mention should go to preferences for residents of the specialized investment infrastructure of the region — the property and profit tax incentives for PSEDA residents of Kataisk, Dalmatovo, Vargashi.
The third block comprises financial support for projects (both on a repayable and irretrievable basis). These are loan financing programs of the ‘Microfinance Fund of the Kurgan Region’, as well as subsidies from the regional budget to residents of technological clusters, general partners of technological clusters and industrial parks.
The fourth block comprises property support. A mechanism for leasing land plots without tender procedures has been successfully launched while implementing large-scale projects.
Thus, the investment legislation of the region is in continuous development. Considering the fact that the packages of bills have been prepared at the federal level regarding the regulation of investment activities (on protection and promotion of investments, on unification of special territorial preferential regimes, as well as interrelated changes to the tax and budget codes), in the near future it will be necessary to analyze the legislation of the Kurgan Region in terms of correlation with the updated system of the federal legislation. First of all, we should take into consideration the demand for tax stimuli, as well as infrastructure support.
The investment portal of the Kurgan Region is an Internet resource created to demonstrate the investment opportunities of the region.
The Investment portal of the Kurgan region contains:
1) An Investment Section from the Strategy of Socio-Economic Development of the Kurgan Region, the Strategy of Socio-Economic Development of the Kurgan Region and the Individual Program of Socio-Economic Development;
2) The current plan of the objects of the necessary transport, energy, social infrastructure of the Kurgan Region;
3) A step-by-step instruction for consideration of investors’ ‘direct appeals’, as well as information about received and considered appeals;
4) The project coordination protocol for interaction of investors with officials and authorities of the Kurgan Region and local self-government bodies (‘one-stop-service principle’), including the scheme of interaction and deadlines for completion of operations at each stage, as well as information about received and considered appeals;
5) Measures to support investments and investment projects, indicating the amount of financing (for financial measures), information on the number of investors who used the support measure for the previous year;
6) Information on investment projects planned and implemented in the Kurgan Region (as of the end of the previous year);
7) Information about the available infrastructure for arrangement of industrial and other facilities of investors (public and private: industrial sites, industrial parks, technological clusters, business incubators, cluster development centers);
The portal also has a line of direct appeals and a line of appeals for obtaining measures to support investors and investment projects.
The information on the Investment Portal of the Kurgan Region is presented in four languages: Russian, English, German and Chinese.
The investment portal of the Kurgan Region is easy to use with smartphones, mobile phones, tablets.
Information on the compliance of the Investment Portal of the Kurgan Region with the quality criteria of a specialized Internet portal on investment activities in a constituent entity of the Russian Federation is presented in the brochure.
In the Kurgan Region, the functions of a regional organization for attracting investments and working with investors are carried out by the ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund.
The ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund is an organization authorized to perform the functions of a regional competence center in the field of agricultural cooperation and support for farmers
The ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund offers more than 50 support measures, including:
– provision of a soft loan;
– provision of sureties on bank loans and guarantees, loan agreements and financial lease (leasing);
– subsidized lease;
– municipal sites to implement the project;
– assistance in documentation of land plots;
– assistance in access to infrastructure;
– interaction with municipalities in the implementation of investment projects.
The powers of the ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund to support investment projects on the principle of ‘one-stop-service principle’ are established by a Decree of the Government of the Kurgan Region.
The Operating Procedures of the ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund approved the stages and deadlines for service provision. To monitor compliance with the Operating Procedures, all information is entered into the CRM system.
An entrepreneur who has applied to the ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund can receive integrated services to support an investment project free of charge, or receives other consulting services on the issues related to investment activities in the Kurgan Region.
For more prompt and qualified provision of services, the ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund concludes cooperation agreements with Institutes for Development, public and business associations, credit organizations, etc.
Special attention in the ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund is paid to improving the qualifications of its staff. A training plan is developed and implemented annually, taking into account the current needs of investors.
The annual report on the activities of the ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund and other documents can always be found on the website of the ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund.
In the Kurgan Region, the Regional Council on Improving the Investment Climate is the Governor’s Regional Council on Improving the Investment Climate in the Kurgan Region. The meetings of the Council are held according to the approved Plan for the next year.
All the initiatives of the Council members expressed at the meetings are reflected in the decisions of the Council and recorded in its minutes. The proceedings of the Council, audio recordings and minutes of meetings, information on the implementation of the Council’s decisions are posted on the Investment Portal of the Kurgan Region.
Any entrepreneur can put forward his or her own initiative to be considered at a meeting of the Council. For this purpose, within the framework of the Direct Line service, the function – ‘Suggest a topic for Investment Advice’ – has been implemented.
In the Kurgan region, the channel of direct communication of the investor with the regional authority is located on the main page of the Investment portal of the Kurgan Region.
The investor can send an online appeal to the Governor of the Kurgan Region, the regional Government, the relevant department.
The operator is the ‘Kurgan Region Investment Agency’ Fund. The Fund’s regulations set a 10-day deadline for appeal consideration. If it is necessary to obtain additional information, to hold meetings, the deadline to consider the appeal may be extended, but not more than for 10 working days with the appropriate notification.
All the requests are entered into the CRM system to monitor compliance with the established deadlines. Information on the number of appeals received and considered is posted on the Investment Portal of the Kurgan region.
The portal for small and medium-sized businesses of the Kurgan Region is an information portal on the support and development of small entrepreneurship in the region.
The portal contains:
1) The Program for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in the Kurgan Region;
2) Register of Organizations of the Infrastructure Support for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses;
3) A list of measures to support small and medium-sized businesses at the federal and regional levels operating on the territory of the Kurgan Region, and the procedure for obtaining such support;
4) Lists of state and municipal property.
The portal also has a Direct Line for support measures, including a description of the sequence of actions (step-by-step instructions), information about a processing period.
The purpose of the RIA is to improve the quality of state regulation, to ensure the possibility of taking into account opinions of various groups and establishing a balance of interests both at the stage of preparing a draft regulatory legal act and at the stage of examination of the current state regulation.
During the RIA, an assessment of expenses (financial and temporary), as well as responsibilities that may arise for entrepreneurs as a result of the proposed regulation, is carried out. The assessment is carried out taking into account opinions of the representatives of public organizations and the representatives of the business community whose interests are affected by regulation.
RIA in the Kurgan Region has been conducted since 2014.
Thus, in 2014-2020, public consultations were held over 268 RLA projects, within the framework of which about 30 proposals for RLA projects were received, including from the public organizations representing the interests of small and medium-sized businesses, 13 of which were taken into account when finalizing the RLA.
The reports on the implementation of the RIA of the Kurgan Region draft regulatory legal acts and the expert assessments of the Kurgan Region regulatory legal acts are available for review on the official Internet portal – ‘Regulatory Impact Assessment in the Kurgan Region’.
Cooperation with organizations on the issues of RIA was implemented by signing cooperation agreements. A total of 11 agreements have been concluded.
There is also an advisory body in the Kurgan Region to determine the priority directions for the development of organizational, legal and methodological improvement in the sphere of RIA — the RIA Coordination Council. Information about the meetings can be found on the website.