Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Mikhail Yurevitch held a meeting with his deputies and ministers on a number of industrial and economic issues. In the course of this meeting, the Governor asked the officials to try and make the region more appealing to the potential investors.

According to the spokesperson for the Governor, the region’s ministers and mayors will have to come up with a list of sites and areas that are located close to railways, motorways, and other important infrastructure objects. Each site has to be provided with a land use map and all the other necessary documents so that the investors can actually assess the site’s business potential.

‘Chelyabinsk Region is ready to invest in the creation of attractive sites that are both suitable and prepared for the implementation of business projects. We are also going to help the investors with organization and administrative resources if their projects prove to be science-intensive and are related to agriculture or industry,’ Yurevitch said.

The Governor also spoke about the future of South Ural State University that was recently given the national scientific research center status. Yurevitch said the authorities’ job was to make sure that actual achievements could back up this status.

‘Our professors have to be educated, both here and abroad; we need to reconsider our scientific grants system in order to set up a full-fledged techo-park on campus,’ he explained.

Head of Chelyabinsk Region’s permanent representation under the Russian Federation Government Andrei Tretyakov, who was also present at the meeting, was informed that the representation was to become the driving force behind the investor-attraction process. The Governor asked Tretyakov and acting mayor of Chelyabinsk Sergey Davydov to draw up a plan for making Balandino Airport and international one.

‘We have got one of the best runway strips in the country. We need to be able to receive planes from Europe and Asia and think of introducing a computer-aided take-off and landing navigation system,’ Yurevitch observed.

Deputy Governor Yuri Klepov and the region’s Minister for Economic Development Elena Murzina were asked to prepare a good quality presentation on Chelyabinsk Region’s investment potential. This presentation is to be used at economic forums, exhibitions, and other events that attract the Russian and international business communities.

Some commissions were also given to the regional Agriculture Minister Ivan Feklin. The Governor explained that special attention would have to be paid to the meat farming industry, with the objective of getting at least 500,000 tons of local meat every year. To achieve this goal, the region needed to put up a number of new commercial pig units and poultry farms and to launch turkey farms as well. Also, Yurevitch said it was essential to merge Chebarkul dairy farm with OAO Chebarkul dairy plant in order to create one big agroholding.