Investment climate road maps: business to blame for slow implementation - ASI chief Nikitin
UFA. March 13 (Interfax) - Over half of the measures contained in the road maps for the National Business Initiative project to improve the investment climate in Russia remain unimplemented because business itself is blocking initiatives from the state, Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) chief Andrei Nikitin said.
"Road map implementation statistics show that 45% have been completed. Fifty-five percent of the road map points aimed at improving procedures for running a business have not been put into practice yet," Nikitin said at a meeting with entrepreneurs in Ufa on Thursday.
The incomplete implementation is not the result of the federal executive bodies failing to make the necessary decisions, "since the state cannot allow itself to be unfriendly to business right now," Nikitin said.
"The measures that have been left unimplemented are mainly those that business has blocked, believing that a number of bills are superfluous and would not have any real effect on the investment climate," he said.
Eleven road maps were activated in 2012-2013, including ones to improve customs administration, raise access to power infrastructure, improve the climate for entrepreneurship in construction, fostering competition and improving antimonopoly policy.
The ASI is currently analyzing interactions between state and business at the regional level, he said.
The National Business Initiative project to improve the investment climate in Russia includes measures proposed by entrepreneurs for streamlining procedures related to running a business.
One of the criteria for gauging the effectiveness of the road maps is Russia's ranking in the World Bank's Doing Business index.