Investor Presentaiton
34 Leonid B. Vardomskiy
economic ties or soliciting foreign investment in the oblast. The federal laws reg-
ulate foreign economic activity practically to the exclusion of all other bodies.
The majority of regional lawmakers do not consider solicitation of foreign
investment an issue of special importance. This reflects the position of the CPRF,
whose influence in the oblast is prevalent. The unsuccessful experience with
credit cooperation with the World Bank, which seriously complicated the budget
situation in Ryazan and the oblast as a guarantor of the credit, to a certain extent,
strengthened the communistposition.
Conclusion
In conclusion, one should emphasize that the volume, structure and instability of
foreign economic ties of the oblast do not allow us to identify any kind of sub-
stantial influence of the oblast on the development of cooperation within the
framework of the CIS, the Customs Union, or the Russian-Belarusian Union. The
oblast's participation in cooperation between Russia and the European Commu-
nity and with the countries of East Asia is even less significant. At the same time,
thanks to the functioning of the TPC, the Ryazan Oblast has become an important
link in the cooperation between Russia and the Baltic countries. But how stable is
this function? The TPC competes with another Russian company "LUKoil" in this
area, not to mention Western companies. What effect could the following devel-
opments have on this cooperation: the possible admittance of the Baltic countries
to the European Community and NATO, the construction of a bulk oil port in Pri-
morsk (Leningrad Oblast), an expansion of the capacity of the Russian fuel mar-
ket, falling world market prices on oil and oil products?
The TPC, as a powerful trans-regional company, is practically independent
of regional authorities. The same does not hold true for other subjects of foreign
economic activity that depend on them in some way.
Today, only a very limited number of companies can benefit from foreign
economic contacts. At the same time, practically all of these are located in Ryazan.
However, the majority of economic players of the oblast suffer directly or indi-
rectly from this process. This situation is reflected in the protectionist policy of
the regional leadership. The economic potential of the enterprises of the regional
center in terms of getting benefits from the expansion of foreign economic con-
tacts is offset by the political dominance of the rural areas, which see such expan-
sion as a threat to their interests.View entire presentation