On Wednesday, February 21, the regional government hosted a meeting with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Netherlands to Russia Ren Jones-Bos. It was attended by the Governor of the Kaliningrad region Anton Alikhanov, members of the government, as well as representatives of leading Dutch companies. The Kaliningrad Region Development Corporation was represented by Deputy General Director Oleg Skvortsov.
During the talks, the sides discussed issues of bilateral cooperation in the field of economy, investment, education and culture. According to the head of the region Anton Alikhanov, the foreign trade turnover of Kaliningrad region's goods with the Netherlands for the past year amounted to about 153 million dollars. Compared to 2016, it increased by almost 11%. "It should be noted that at present the government of the Kaliningrad region is doing a great job of attracting investors to the region. Investors receive administrative and financial support for their projects in the form of tax incentives and customs preferences", Alikhanov specified.
As noted by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Russia Ren Jones-Bos, the purpose of the Dutch delegation visit to the Kaliningrad region is acquaintance with the economic potential of the region and development of cooperation in business, science and culture. "We have a working group on health care between the Netherlands and Russia. The representatives of the "Philips” company, which specialize in integrated complex technology solutions for health, is part of our delegation. We plan to develop cooperation with the Kaliningrad region through medical research".
On the opportunities for localization, including the production of the pharmaceutical industry in the territory of the industrial parks Khrabrovo and Chernyakhovsk, Deputy Director General of the Development Corporation Oleg Skvortsov told on the meeting. He informed the participants in detail about the tax benefits and preferences that can be counted on by companies that have become residents of the Kaliningrad Special Economic Zone since January 1 of this year.
"For example, for medical and pharmaceutical companies, the investment threshold has been reduced to 10 million rubles, for the IT industry the investment threshold is set at 1 million rubles. Foreign companies are actively interested in these opportunities. Very often this interest leads to real projects. Already today, we have signed agreements with several potential resident companies of the Khrabrovo industrial park: they have access to industrial sites provided with the necessary engineering infrastructure and electricity, a zero rate for income tax, property and land, reduced social payments, comprehensive support from the government and institutions of the region development, such as the Kaliningrad Region Development Corporation ", Oleg Skvortsov said. According to him, the Corporation has a huge experience of accompanying both domestic and foreign investment projects. "We are always open for cooperation", Oleg Skvortsov summed up.