Mergen Orjik: come to our Tuva!

Today the studio of Vestnik Kavkaza was visited by Mergen Orjik, a member of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy, a representative of the executive body of the Republic of Tuva. During the conversation he spoke about the work of the republic's authorities to attract investment and tourism to the region.

"Our region is subsidized. Republican budget spendings are around 20 billion rubles. The biggest part of it is social spending. But I would like to say that, while being a subsidized region, we are trying to attract more investment. I would like to do a little comparison. Literally, if we compare the attraction level of investments 8 years ago, that number with the current one, then the size of the investments and domestic investments amounted to 2 billion rubles, the current investments are many times bigger, and amount to 34 billion rubles. We are already starting to develop our economy. This is, of course, the merit of the team. The teamwork and strategy of the movement of our republic determines a breakthrough, which we currently have," the senator noted.

"I would like to note that recently in our republic we summed up the results of investment activity over the past year and there are some very interesting figures in the results of 2014. Let's say that the inflow of investments into the fixed capital of Tuva from all sources of investment in 2014 reached 16.2 billion rubles, compared with 2013, its almost 11% more," he added.

Thanks to this, the region's economy is now actively developing. "I would like to note that a mining and processing plant in the Kyzyl-Tashtyg field opened this year in our republic. Also we have the Mezhegey coal mine with high-tech mining, also the construction of a brick concrete plant is under way. The foreign company Bentans. For us it is very important. We attract various foreign investors. They come to us with great interest, for them it does not matter that we are a remote region, what matters is that we are a very attractive region," Orjik said.

Talking about the strengths of the republic's economy, he noted the wealth of its natural resources and industry of the region. "We are trying to invest in our people, in their education, in their development, in our businessmen. Every year, the authorities of the republic are allocating huge money for the development of small business, and each year the republic finances internal projects on the development of rural producers. There is a unique project on the territory of the republic, which has a great resonance among people over the past three years – a project called "One Village – One Product." We have 143 settlements on our territory. Each village has its own brand product. And they are trying to push every product through. Each administration identifies very talented entrepreneurs and seeks to promote them to their level, so that this project would develop. Of course, first of all they listen to the public opinion. The most important thing is that the public has given its opinion on whether or not the project is worthy of support. If the public also agrees with this project, yes, this project really needs support and it will help the development of the village, then accordingly the administration supports and the authorities of the republic, respectively, give the financial support. Financial support comes through the appropriate committees and so on, interagency, of course. For us it is very important," the senator said.

"Also, I would like to say that the total volume of the investment potential of companies operating on the territory of the republic is currently estimated at 350 billion rubles. It is an enormous amount of money for us. And we will not stop, we will go even further. And we will grow even stronger and will move further even more, because it is very important for us," he ensured.