Minister of Economic Development Invites Foreign Companies to Invest in Russia
Foreign investors interested in the Russian market are now presented with new opportunities and promising prospects, particularly in sectors focused on domestic demand – such as housing and utilities, food production, domestic tourism, culture, and sport. This was stated by Russia’s Minister of Economic Development, Maksim Reshetnikov, on 7 April during the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM Congress 2025) held in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
According to Reshetnikov, the Russian authorities are working on support measures for both domestic and foreign investors, including public-private partnership mechanisms, and are expanding preferential regimes, such as special economic zones, where “more than 100 companies with foreign capital” are already operating.
Russia aims to attract international partners to projects in sectors including aircraft and shipbuilding, radio electronics, low-tonnage chemistry, transport, and agricultural machinery, he added.
Boris Titov, Special Presidential Representative for Relations with International Organisations for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals, believes that the import tariffs being introduced globally by the US administration could help Russia attract foreign investors to the real sector. “Many who face prohibitive duties will come to us and invest in production in Russia. The Chinese and their cars, for instance. And this will lead to the long-awaited diversification and growth of our economy", Titov said on April 4th.
On the financial front, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov stated in early April that some foreign hedge funds are investing in Russia using so-called “cowboy money” via friendly jurisdictions, “risking even sanctions-related restrictions”. “You can see it in the dynamics of OFZ (federal loan bonds) prices and the rouble exchange rate – there are small streams starting to trickle in. These are still very modest amounts, of course, and difficult to estimate, as they are routed through friendly infrastructure to facilitate the investments”, Chebeskov explained.