According to the Central Bank of Russia, over the past five years the total volume of investments by British companies in the economic development of Moscow has increased 2.3 times. As of July 1, 2020, the total amount of accumulated in the capital of direct investments from Britain reached 18 billion U.S. dollars. This was reported by Vladimir Yefimov, Sergei Sobyanin's deputy for economy and land and property relations.

Last year the Moscow authorities organized a video conference with representatives of British companies, which have their offices in the city. During the event the British told about their work on the territory of the Russian Federation, voiced proposals and got answers to many questions.

UK Investments in Moscow

We would like to remind you that the list of such organizations is quite long. Such large companies from Great Britain as British American Tobacco, Unilever, and Diageo have offices in Moscow. Consulting organizations such as Knight Frank and Ernst & Young and Deloitte should also be mentioned. And there are also representative offices in the RF capital of the largest British pharmaceutical companies: GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca.

According to analysts, last year was marked by an inflow of foreign finance in the economy of Moscow, despite the difficult economic situation in the world. For example, Vladimir Yefimov noted that even in conditions of global decline in foreign trade turnover representatives of the business community of other countries did not cease to pour their finances into Moscow area. The largest volume of investments accounts for the companies of the financial sector, as well as organizations of insurance sector, industry and high technology. As mentioned above, at the beginning of July 2020 Great Britain has invested in the economy of the Russian capital almost 18 billion dollars of direct investments. This figure is 40% more than in April of the same year: then the total amount of funds of British businessmen, accumulated in Moscow, amounted to 12.8 billion dollars of direct investment. Five years earlier, this figure was only $7.6 billion. Thus, over the analyzed period, the total volume of investments by British businessmen in the development of their representative offices in Moscow has more than doubled.

In addition, the year 2020 was marked by an increase in exports of various groups of goods from the Russian capital to the United Kingdom. Thus, in the first 3 quarters of last year, it increased 2.3 times, amounting to $10.5 billion in monetary terms. It should be noted that in the overall structure of Moscow's export activities, realization of goods to Great Britain occupies a share of 11%. The greatest demand from the British is for products of the chemical industry, computers, mechanical equipment and machinery.

According to a fair comment by Alf Torrents, the head of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce, nowadays Moscow is a sort of corridor for the Russian Federation, through which British businessmen enter our economy. The expert also noted that conferences of all kinds allow foreign investors to learn about investment opportunities that the Russian capital can provide, as well as to present companies that already have experience of working in Russia.

Impressive benefits from the cooperation of the capital authorities with foreign businessmen are clearly demonstrated by figures. So, on July 1, 2020, the total accumulated foreign investment in the city was more than 260 billion dollars.

According to Emil Petrosyan, the deputy head of the Moscow Department of Investment and Industrial Policy, one of the key incentives for foreign businessmen to open their representative offices in Moscow is an offset contract. The execution of such an agreement is the pledge of long-term product sales for businessmen, and the Russian capital receives new jobs and the amount of tax payments in return. Currently, the city authorities have already signed four offset contracts with companies specializing in the pharmaceutical, medical device and food industries. The total amount of private investment under these contracts amounted to 11.9 billion rubles, and the total amount of purchases - 71.6 billion.

The technopolis "Moscow" which is a part of a special economic zone (SEZ) offers great privileges to foreigners today. Having placed their production facilities here, the businessman receives tax incentives for profit, property and land, which will be valid for 10 years.

SEZ "Technopolis "Moscow" consists of five industrial and production sites, which together occupy more than 200 hectares of territory. These are:

- location in Pechatniki;

- Alabushevo site;

- "Mikron";

- "Angstrem";

- "MIET".

SEZ has greenfield and brownfield territories. For the most part, the technopolis is home to companies specializing in high technology. Today there are over 180 of them. At the same time, 79 companies have been granted resident status. They are manufacturers of:

- microelectronics;

- Energy-saving equipment;

- air disinfection;

- pharmaceutical products;

- composites;

- refrigerating equipment, etc.

It is possible to say without false modesty that at present "Moscow" is a place where all conditions for successful development of business, including foreign business, are created.

Great Britain is by no means the only country investing in the economic development of Moscow. Chinese businessmen are engaged in similar activities. As a consequence, some of them obtain resident status in the SEZ. For example, the SIM card manufacturer Eastcompeace Technology acquired it in the autumn of 2020. The company is also located on the territory of Technopolis "Moscow". It will specialize in manufacturing bank cards and developing software for eSIM. The firm's production facilities will be localized at the Alabushevo site. The plant, which is scheduled to launch in 2022, will create more than 50 new jobs.