Advisory Board of Heads of Russian Regional Representative Offices held a meeting in Moscow. The event was organized by the Roscongress Foundation. The main focus of this meeting was fostering Russia’s small and medium enterprises. A number of federal projects designed to incentivize entrepreneurship were presented at the meeting along with best regional practices in this area.
«Meetings of the Advisory Board for the regions offer a platform to exchange experiences and showcase Russia’s regions’ best practices. The Advisory Board was first convened in May this year and has already asserted itself as an effective body. From now on, the Board’s meetings will be held regularly. The major goal is to identify and replicate best tools that help implement national projects and tackle social and economic challenges. This is a unique opportunity for regional authorities to explore successful practices, showcase their strengths, and work out optimal development strategies in key areas,» said Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation.
In his welcoming speech, Armen Khachatrian, Deputy CEO of the Roscongress Foundation, emphasized the Board’s work high practical value: «After each session, we prepare analytical reports that are later sent to heads of federal executive bodies, heads of regions, and stakeholder organizations. The Board’s previous meeting was focused on regional exports. We reviewed best practices from across the country, described most successful cases in a clear structured way and put them into our analytical report. Today a number of regions have already begun to implement those new solutions».
Olesya Teterina, Deputy Director of the Department for the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Competition of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, presented best practices aimed at development and promotion of entrepreneurship. Olesya Teterina gave the board an update on the progress of the National Project «Small and Medium-Sized Businesses and Support for Individual Entrepreneurs» and the work of «My Business» Centers. The latter integrate all the support infrastructure for SMEs on a single platform and operate under the «Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises» programme and Federal Programme for «Economic Development and Innovations». «My Business» Centers can become an experimental platform for implementing best regional practices. The presentation of the project will take place on 30 August 2019 in Kaliningrad.
Denis Saliy, Head of the Representative Office of the Government of the Kaliningrad Region under the Government of the Russian Federation, presented a selection of region’s best practices in the field of SMEs, including projects promoting social entrepreneurship and a startups competition «Business battle». Alongside that, Kaliningrad region has also created and is successfully running a program aimed to help regional SMEs access the markets of Moscow and the Moscow region. Reaching Moscow’s markets is a relevant issue for many entrepreneurs across the country.
Alexey Grishchenko, Deputy Director at Delovaya Sreda (Business Environment), spoke about educational support for SMEs and about the «Business Environment platform», providing entrepreneurs with information on most relevant and important topics, as well as with results of various studies.
The Udmurt Republic presented several unique solutions for encouraging entrepreneurship: several educational programs, a franchising development program, and assistance in registering a business. Mikhail Khomich, Permanent Representative of the Head of the Udmurt Republic to the President of the Russian Federation — Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Udmurt Republic, delivered a report on the results of the acceleration program that operates in the Republic. Graduates of accelerator’s first track achieved an aggregate turnover increase of RUB 240 million, 11 companies doubled their revenues. Mikhail Khomich expressed his willingness to share all the best practices coming from this project with colleagues from other regions to secure further dissemination of this successful experience.
The
Advisory Board of Heads of Representative Offices of Russian Regions was
convened under the initiative of the Roscongress Foundation. The Board brings
together heads of Russia’s regional representative offices in Moscow. At its
meetings the Board addresses major issues of federal and regional agendas,
discusses real «success stories», and explores the ways of replicating
successful practices and scaling them up within the framework of national
projects.
