Moscow is an absolute leader among European cities in the number of companies that are planning to open their offices here. These are the results of an enquiry carried out by a European rating agency. Experts believe that the process is stampeded by a lack of awareness of business opportunities in the Russian capital.

The enquiry was carried out in 500 international companies. They were asked where they would like to open their offices in the next 5 years, with 36 large European cities to choose from. 47 companies declared their intention to come to Moscow. To compare, 30 companies want to start their business in Warsaw and 29 in Istanboul.

Moscow authorities are convinced that the results of the monitoring could have been different if western businessmen had known the Russian capital better. But in any case, Moscow has always been attractive for foreign businessmen, Deputy Mayor of Moscow Andrey Sharonov believes:

“Moscow is interesting to foreign investors because it is a huge market with a day population of over 14mln people. It is also a large work force potential, both skilled and unskilled. The area around Moscow is also a large market. All this makes the city very attractive to any investor. At the same time, investment in Moscow has traditionally been difficult and businessmen give low ratings to the Moscow investment climate. This is associated with a complicated procedure, incomprehensible details and high investor risks. As a result, honey is sweet but the bee stings. This is why Moscow authorities should simplify the process of implementing private investment projects in the city and making them more transparent.”

Moscow authorities should raise Moscow ratings. With this aim, a special government programme has been written for the development of Moscow as an international financial centre in 2012-2016. It is supposed to be financed  from  the federal and Moscow revenue, and also non-governmental sources. To implement this programme, it is planned to allocate about 100bln roubles (about $3bln) from the city revenue. The money will be used to build all necessary infrastructure – engineering, transport, and social services; and to develop education and health care. Moscow is to become a city comfortable for living and working in. Another task is to tell people as much as possible about the opportunities of the Russian capital. The enquiry shows that fewer companies are familiar with Moscow than with London or Paris, for example.