Meeting with ASI General Director Svetlana Chupsheva
Vladimir Putin had a working meeting with General Director of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives Svetlana Chupsheva.
September 11, 2025
13:20
The Kremlin, Moscow
ASI General Director Svetlana Chupsheva: Mr President, I would like to inform you about the work carried out this year based on your instructions to improve the investment climate in the country.
As you have noted, it is crucial for us to study international experience and practices rather than isolate ourselves. We have also reported to you that we used the World Bank's new B-Ready rating in our analysis, examining how Russia would perform under this methodology.
At present, the World Bank has assessed only 50 countries, and major economies such as the United States and China have yet to be included. However, according to Moscow's calculations, if the analysis were extended to include Russia, the Russian Federation would rank fourth out of 51 countries.
This approach allowed us to identify both growth points and our comparative strengths in areas affecting the investment climate compared to other countries, from starting a business through its operational activities and development at all stages to liquidation or restructuring.
Of course, we included the indicators of national goals in this work, since they are of key importance today, as well as the task you have set: to increase investment in fixed capital in our country and its regions by 60 percent by 2030. We therefore reviewed reform indicators at both federal and regional levels that would help achieve this national goal.
As you know, each year we present to you the results of the National Investment Climate Rating of Russia's regions. At the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, you praised the leaders of this rating: Moscow, Tatarstan and the Nizhny Novgorod Region.
It is particularly important, Mr President, that this rating allows us to track annual changes in regional conditions for entrepreneurs and investors. We see lagging regions steadily growing and catching up with the leaders. You also observed that this year Tatarstan and the Nizhny Novgorod Region shared second place, yet their index already matches Moscow's score from the previous year when it ranked first.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Everyone is growing.
Svetlana Chupsheva: Yes, everyone is growing. And now, together with the Russian Government and the Ministry of Economic Development, we have set target indicators for the regions to achieve by 2030.
These include, in particular, the timeframe for connecting to the power grid, issuance of construction permits, allocation of land plots for lease, and access to necessary financial support measures for businesses. These targets reflect the performance of the top five leaders in the rating.
At the federal level, we have organised our work with all business communities, representatives of businesses and investors, as well as with the Government in 11 spheres. These issues have to do with financial stability, financial services for businesses, labour resources, litigation, commercial disputes between businesses, property registration, infrastructure, power grids, gas, water, and all other connection services.
Likewise, we have outlined the necessary reforms so as to advance in terms of our international rankings and to create better, more competitive conditions for business people, foreign investors and Russian investors in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
The task you have set for us this year is to ensure the adoption of these roadmaps and action plans. We have already coordinated with businesses and sent the first package of reforms, comprising about 250 measures, to the Government, and they are being considered by the relevant agencies.
We are extremely grateful for the open and constructive dialogue. It is often said that truth thrives on conflict, and it is extremely important that reforms are being initiated by our business people and, more importantly, they will also take part in monitoring and overseeing the reforms' compliance with the law at the federal and regional levels.
It is not only important to create a better image of our country in terms of the investment climate, but also to enhance the quality of life, as you have said. We can see that the quality of life is improving across the country. Even the foreigners who come to Russia in accordance with your Executive Order No. 702, those who share our traditional values, say that they never thought that life and the everyday living environment would be so comfortable in our cities and regions.
We also take international rankings into account, specifically everything that has to do with the quality of life. We have adjusted the regional methodologies for the quality of life rankings to align with international standards, our national goals and the key indicators of governor effectiveness. In other words, we have structured this work at all levels.
It is important that the governors understand which reforms are necessary and which measures and actions can help achieve our national goals, notably in healthcare, ecology, and employment opportunities.
This year, we have streamlined our work with the regions and have presented a new regional agenda for collaboration in the area of managerial practices at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. As I have mentioned, we are focusing on underperforming regions, helping them improve and catch up with the leading regions.
We have reached an agreement with the Moscow Government to set up a centre for best regional practices, where teams from all regions come for several days of intensive exchange of the best regional practices in the spheres of investment climate and the quality of life. More importantly, they will have the opportunity to inspect the necessary infrastructure created for investors and city residents. I am referring to both the infrastructure in Moscow and that of other regions, such as Tatarstan and the Nizhny Novgorod Region, where many regional teams now come to share experience.
Vladimir Putin: I am looking at your materials, Business Ready and the three assessment dimensions. The regulatory framework is ranked first, the quality of services is ranked first, and the effectiveness of state services is ranked 22nd. What does this mean?
Svetlana Chupsheva: This means that, with regards to the regulatory framework - the documents that regulate our work or investment support - it is fully in place, elevating our ranking here to the first place. The quality of state services relates to state services, which we have in abundance online, offered in a fast and convenient format for businesses.
As concerns service effectiveness, this includes regulatory enforcement and operations, the way businesses... It happens sometimes that we have laws in place and services available but in some cases, businesses still face administrative obstacles, for example.
Vladimir Putin: Regulatory enforcement.
Svetlana Chupsheva: Yes, regulatory enforcement. For example, with respect to tax regulation, we are currently working with senior officials of the Federal Taxation Service. B-Ready analyses the hours a taxpayer spends on tax reports throughout the year. In Russia, the average is 160 hours, while in 50 other countries, it is 130 or 120 hours.
We understand how we can improve this process and have reached agreement to reduce the total amount of time spent on tax reporting to 90 hours per year.
This is a regulatory compliance issue, Mr President, but we have identified reserves for improvement in every component, which we can address in collaboration with federal agencies.
Vladimir Putin: This is very important. Please continue this work. Unfortunately, we see this in many areas: it is one thing to adopt regulations, and another to ensure they are enforced. We would like to see tangible results from their work.
Svetlana Chupsheva: I will need your support here because not all aspects concern the Government. Everything related to financial services, for example. There are many issues overseen by the Central Bank. Commercial disputes and litigation are matters for the Supreme Court.
If we have your support and permission, my colleagues can present the data we obtained as feedback from businesses. We can show you potential solutions, such as how we can reduce the number of commercial cases which courts are overwhelmed with, or how we can calibrate this practice to introduce pre-trial mediation and arbitration. It is also possible to set specific timelines for commercial litigation.
We can see from the performance of leading countries that they regulate timelines and evidentiary requirements to ensure that commercial disputes do not continue for five years. As we have seen, there are countries where disputes take three months to resolve, and there are countries where businesses are burdened with five-year-long disputes.
If possible, we can also address this aspect.
Vladimir Putin: Good.
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