During the work of the Investment Forum in the DPR, its participants discussed the possibilities of applying advanced technologies in Donbass, which will facilitate the development of industry, noted its moderator Larisa Kostrovets.

More than 250 delegates from Russia, the LPR, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, France, Finland, Ireland, Great Britain, Switzerland, Bulgaria, the US, Turkey, Syria, Yemen, Tajikistan, Iran and Egypt participated in the six subpanels.

Moderator of the Donbass Economic Potential subpanel Aleksandr Anopriyenko noted that about 200 people had participated in his panel. He singled out a report by Pericles Katsioulas, a representative of the business community.

“He assessed the investment prospects of the Republic as “very high”. He also suggested us to aim our resources at building our own economic model,” he emphasized.

Anopriyenko also noted the importance of development of IT and computer technologies, which will help bring the DPR economic potential to a new level.

Businessmen from the Russian Federation, the LPR, the Republic of South Ossetia and Abkhazia took part in the subpanel “Formation of a Favorable Investment Climate: Problems and Prospects”. According to its moderator Viktoria Romanyuk, the key points were the search for new approaches and the development of a legislative framework that will help improve the investment climate in the DPR.

“The proposal to introduce a payment system in the Republic deserves special attention. It can be implemented until mid-2020 if there are favorable conditions,” she noted.

In addition, public activists from the Russian Federation proposed using the potential of the Republic in the form of industrial tourism.

“The investment policy of Donbass requires radical changes. Our problems open up new opportunities, encourage us to do a new breakthrough in development,” she added.

The subpanel on the topic of “Cooperation in the Field of Agro-Industrial Complex” brought together 46 representatives of agro-industrial business, 34 of whom came from Greece, Russia, Belorussia, Abkhazia and the LPR. The key point of the panel was to determine an instrument that facilitates the investment attractiveness of agro-industrial enterprises.

“In order to determine the food security, it is necessary to build agro-parks based on the principle “from farmer to consumer”, which will begin to form an agricultural cluster. It was proposed elaborating its virtual model for cooperation with international business,” Lyudmila Shabalina underlined.

Participants in the panel also discussed the possibility of production of halaal products for export to the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

The panel “Scientific and Educational Potential of Donbass” raised the issues of investment in education, science and healthcare.

“It has been decided that the leading area of investment in healthcare may be “medical tourism”, which will entail not only the development of tourism, but also the construction of infrastructure, the development of restaurant and hotel business, food, pharmaceutical, chemical industries and other sectors of the economy,” Svetlana Drozhina noted.

Tatyana Ibragimkhalilova, the moderator of the panel “Donbass and Russian Regions”, in her turn, noted that new economic, industrial and trade relations between the enterprises of Donbass and the Russian Federation had been outlined during the discussion.

“The panel’s work resulted in the signing of six agreements on cooperation, which will allow developing the areas to attract investors,” she stressed.

Olga Nekrasova, the moderator of the subpanel devoted to environmental development, said that her panel had been attended by delegations from Russia, France, Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon and Yemen.

“One of the important achievements of the panel is the fact that we discussed the prospects for opening a branch of the Islamic Bank in the Republic. The participants in the panel also spoke about the necessity of instituting an Accounts Chamber in the Republic,” she added.

Nekrasova stressed that as part of the work in her panel, the DPR and LPR had signed five agreements. The republics also concluded a Memorandum of Cooperation with the International Association of Islamic Business.

An important moment, she said, was the accession of the DPR to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

Note that representatives of business entities of the Republic have signed 34 agreements totaling 135,4 billion rubles during the Forum, and also announced the establishment of two enterprises.