Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appealed to foreign investors Friday, saying Russia had lifted barriers to outside investment and calling for reciprocal measures from other states.
"We are open to foreign investment," Putin told an economic forum, where he held meetings with top Western executives in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi. "We have a need not only for money, though this is of course very important, but first of all the knowledge and experience of the main world actors."
Foreign capital investment grew to $17 billion in the first half 2009, Putin said, adding Russia had lifted a number of bureaucratic barriers to investment including slashing corporate taxes.
A Kremlin law enacted last year to limit foreign investment in sectors, such as energy and telecoms, defined by the state as "strategic," was drafted at the request of foreign investors to clarify the rules of the game in Russia, he said.
"I am sure that Russia has a chance to be one of the world's foremost attractors of investment. The crisis should not keep us from accomplishing this goal," he said in the televised speech.
"As in the past, Russia's economy completely lacks in foreign investment," he said, listing infrastructure, the telecoms industry and digital television as among the sectors most in need of outside capital.
Russia failed to implement significant economic reform during boom years that saw stellar growth of 8.1% in 2007 and has been hit much harder by the crisis than most other developing economies. Its economy shrank by 9.8% in the first quarter compared with output in the same period last year and, according to preliminary data, by 10.9% in the second quarter.