A Foreign Investments Committee was set up in Chelyabinsk Region to promote more intense investments within the area; the committee will have to look into the ways of attracting more foreign capital and is expected to come up with proposals for helping local companies find external investors and build up ties with international investment and financial institutions.

The committee is made up of representatives of both executive and legislative powers of Chelyabinsk Region, heads of scientific research bodies, and some foreign and domestic investment companies’ executives such as Minister for Economic Development Yuri Klepov, State Duma deputy and chairman of PROMASS (the Organization of Employers of Chelyabinsk Region) Valeriy Panov, Mayor of Chelyabinsk Mikhail Yurevich, and First Deputy Governor Vladimir Dyatlov (who chairs the committee).

The committee will be meeting at least every six months.

The volume of foreign investments attracted by regional enterprises went up 75.7% in 2006 compared to a year earlier and amounted to nearly $1.5 billion. This was mainly due to the fact that the regional government did its best to make the region appeal to investors through minimizing political and socio-economic risks.